Name that....bug?

[fishnowworknever]

Buddy of mine sent this to me today, said it came up through his hole. Anyone know what it is exactly?

[smeese]

A death watch beetle. Now your toast. J/K Was is dead?

[toughguy]

A sure sign of the apocalypse

[fishnowworknever]

Alive and kicking, said it was swimming around like a mad man in the bucket.

[DTro]

Have you ever seen "The Mummy"

[Eric Wettschreck]

Looks like a mean little dude, eh?

[LandDr]

Do a internet search (image search if you click on that tab) and enter this name in...

Giant Water Bug

It is in the Belostomatidae family. You can use that word for a search also.

They are major predators and will take down fatheads and even small fish!

By the way...that is a little one boys! They get A LOT bigger.

Fish On!

[Hard617]

Looks to be a "giant water bug"

Looks like a mean little dude, eh?

I'd say. This is a small thing I found about them.

Giant water bugs are aquatic predators that are found in ponds, slow-moving streams, and wetlands in Kentucky. They feed on many aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates, including minnows, tadpoles, frogs, and other aquatic insects.

Giant water bugs are primarily ambush predators who wait with front legs outstretched in aquatic vegetation near the water surface. When a meal swims too near, the giant water bug grabs it and pierces it with its sharp beak, quickly injecting it with paralyzing fluids and digestive juices. Although giant water bugs are fierce predators, they are often eaten by fish and larger predatory insects and spiders

[goblueM]

Its a water scorpion, they are really cool. They breathe air and actually carry a renewable air supply in a bubble on their body

http://www.entomology.umn.edu/museum/links/coursefiles/JPEG%20images/Hemiptera%20web%20jpeg/Nepomorpha/Nepa.jpg

[grey ghost]

Definitely a Giant Water Bug

[river rat316]

[PoorWordUsage], I saw one of those things come out of a floating mat when I was wade fishing the river once, it would have taken up that whole icescoop, it was that dam big, I am not usually easily freaked out, but I about crapped my pants and ran across the top of the water when I saw that bug. Let out a scream like a little girl to when I was running..... probably shouldn't have admitted that

[LandDr]

Here's another one that will freak you out...

Do an internet image search on...

Dytiscidae

These are aquatic beetles...there are some smaller (size of a pin head) and some that are REALLY BIG. The Giant Water Beetle I have seen as big as 6 inches long! These are also fierce predators.

But what is really wild is what their larvae look like...look at those photos. These things have mandibles to kill! I got some of the larvae in with my freshwater shrimp today...no huge ones but they would grab onto my skin and give a #### of a pinch!

Since you are on to freeky things in the water where you swim and your kids swim...look these images up as well...

Water Scorpion

Dragon Fly larvae (these larvae have retractable mandibles!! This may be where the idea for the monster on Alien came from)

I have a degree in aquatics and sat in the lab for months identifying all of this stuff...real party favor for discussions I tell ya!

Fish On!

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Looks like something the boot would squatch to me......

[dspohn]

Have you ever seen "The Mummy"

Oh yes haha I hope there weren't more of them he would have been in trouble!

[irvingdog]

Yeah. I've been through this before. It is the Belostomatidae. And yeah, that's a small one or one huge scoop. One came up the hole on me as well.

It still haunts me.

[jigginjim]

Looks like bait. put it on a hook.

[freebledsoe]

How do they survive winters here? Wiki says the adults can't breathe underwater but need to surface to gulp air. Hard to do with the lakes ice covered...?

[croixeyes]

Looks yummy,and crunchy.MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

[Phred52]

croixeyes, Might look yummy and crunchy... But it has a "CREAMY FILLING" that squirts when ya crunch 'em!!

[Rebeleye]

Have you ever seen "The Mummy"

LOL! That's pretty good man. I wanna run for the hills every time I catch that scene.

[pikerliker]

Rebeleye I'm laughing my U know what off at your video clip on your post! Where can I see those guys in concert?

~piker

[hunter101]

one of them critters comes up thru my hole in the ice and im done ice fishin forever!!!!!!!!!!!

[LandDr]

They can be found in lakes during the summer but are mostly in small ponds during summer which offers them the best food sources with concentrated minnows, frogs...especially tad poles! They love tad poles. I ran the aquarium room for St. Cloud State for 3 years and had Belostomas in there and would feed them tad poles...pretty cool to watch them in action. And they do suck the insides out!

When the water temperature drops in the fall, they migrate to larger lakes to over-winter. That is why you sometimes find them on roads or by lights...they are migrating and are really good flyers! The water is much colder in deeper lakes and they go into a cold hibernation and catch air bubbles under the ice that get trapped there.

I also had the water beetles that zip around on the surface of lakes and ponds that you see in the summer...remember seeing those swarms of black beetles? Well those are Gyrinidae (whirligig beetles). They actually have 4 eyes! Two that look down into the water and two that look up above the water. They operate a lot like a bat in that they send out vibrations and receive vibrations back like sonar. They use this sense to pick up vibrations from criters and then narrow in for the kill. I would take ants off the sidewalks at college and throw into the tanks and watch them. As the ants would send out vibrations on the surface, the Gyrinus would dart back and forth following and narrowing in on the vibrations...and then nail them! What was really cool was that the Gyrinus would actually pull the legs off the ants and throw the legs to the side...and then eat the ant!

St. Cloud State...beer drink'in, women chas'in and crazy projects in the aquarium room! Oh ya...and flipping cars and starting dumpsters on fire! Ya...I was there.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Landdr,

We appear to have a similar background in our schooling and a love for the Macros!

[DTro]

Since we are on the subject of bugs, check this one out that I found in my garage a couple summers ago, it was about 2-3" long: