Belostomatidae
Belostomatidae is a family of freshwater hemipteran insects known as giant water bugs or colloquially as toe-biters, Indian toe-biters, electric-light bugs (because they fly to lights in large numbers), alligator ticks, or alligator fleas (in Florida). They are the largest insects in the order Hemiptera. There are about 170 species found in freshwater habitats worldwide, with more than 110 in the Neotropics, more than 20 in Africa, almost as many in the Nearctic, and far fewer elsewhere. These predators are typically encountered in freshwater ponds, marshes and slow-flowing streams. Most speci
Species
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassInsecta
- OrderHemiptera
- FamilyBelostomatidae
負蝽科（學名：Belostomatidae），又名負子蝽科:21，屬於半翅目的水生昆蟲，常稱作「巨型水蟲」（Giant Water Bugs）、「咬腳趾蟲」（toe-biter）[1]，但因常有強烈的趨光性也稱作「電光蟲」（electric-light bugs）[2]，牠們也是全球半翅目中最大的昆蟲，也能用上翅的翅膀進行飛行。通常會在淡水溪流與池塘出現，大多數種類相當的大，例如：大田鱉，平均超出了4.75英吋，相當於世界最大甲蟲的尺寸，在泰國也具有食用性用途。
via GBIF
Article
13 sectionsContents
- Morphology
- Subfamilies and genera
- Belostomatinae
- Horvathiniinae
- Lethocerinae
- Fossil taxa
- Habits
- Feeding and defense
- Breeding
- In Asian cuisine
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Belostomatidae is a family of freshwater hemipteran insects known as giant water bugs or colloquially as toe-biters, Indian toe-biters, electric-light bugs (because they fly to lights in large numbers), alligator ticks, or alligator fleas (in Florida). They are the largest insects in the order Hemiptera. There are about 170 species found in freshwater habitats worldwide, with more than 110 in the Neotropics, more than 20 in Africa, almost as many in the Nearctic, and far fewer elsewhere. These predators are typically encountered in freshwater ponds, marshes and slow-flowing streams. Most species are at least long, although smaller species, down to , also exist. The largest are members of the genus Lethocerus, which can exceed and nearly reach the length of some of the largest beetles in the world. Giant water bugs are a popular food in parts of Asia.
The oldest fossil member of this family is Triassonepa from the Late Triassic-aged Cow Branch Formation of Virginia and North Carolina, United States.