Water Strider - Gerris sp.

Common Water Strider - Gerris spp.
Order Hemiptera / Suborder Heteroptera / Infraorder Gerromorpha / Superfamily Gerroidea
Family: Gerridae (Leach, 1815) -- water striders / Genus: Gerris (Fabricius, 1794)
Live adult water striders photographed in the wild on Sawmill Creek at Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve, Darien, Illinois, USA.

	Water strider, wingless: Gerris remigis Water striders' legs are covered with microsetae, microscopic hairs that trap tiny bubbles of air, allowing them to float on top of the water. Water striders are predacious and carnivorous. The front legs have become shortened and adapted to catching and holding prey while the bug sucks out internal juices. The middle set of legs are used like oars to propel the bug through the water, and the hind legs are used for steering.

	Winged Water Strider

	Dye demonstates vortices created by water strider's propulsion

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True Bugs - Insect Order Hemiptera by Bruce J Marlin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
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