Subject: [Tweeters] giant water bugs
Date: Apr 23 22:00:02 2006
From: Rob Sandelin - floriferous at msn.com


I can regularly find giant water bugs in the beaver pond at Lord Hill Park.
Last year my students found one tending its egg mass, which was hard like
wood. I collected the grass it was on and the little nippers hatched in a
couple of days. The young look just like their papa, only much smaller. I
have photos of this if anybody should ever want them. This weeks website has
a photo of the adult and the eggs. HYPERLINK
"http://share3.esd105.wednet.edu/rsandelin/sve02.htm"http://share3.esd105.we
dnet.edu/rsandelin/sve02.htm Tommorrow I will be heading out in search
aquatic insects with students and I would be surprised if we don't find at
least one. I have had most success finding them in submerged grass areas.
Dave Pheling, of the Snohomish County extension service regularily gets
these from people who wonder what they are. I don't think that they are all
that rare. I remember as a kid collecting them from the marshy pond behind
my house. They will eat each other and have a cool breathing tube that pops
out of their behind as they hang head down in the water.

One word of caution, the bite of these bugs is very painful.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
The Environmental Science School
HYPERLINK
"http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm"http://www.nonprofitpages.com/ni
ca/SVE.htm
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