Nepa (insect)

Nepa
Nepa cinerea
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Infraorder: Nepomorpha
Family: Nepidae
Genus: Nepa

Nepa is a genus belonging to the family Nepidae, known as water scorpions. There are six species found in freshwater habitats in the Northern Hemisphere.[2][3]

They are oval-bodied, aquatic insects with raptorial front legs. Like other members of the Nepidae, they have a pair of nonretractable cerci-like breathing tubes on the terminal abdominal segment, a characteristic which readily distinguishes them from the Belostomatidae. Their primary staples are other insects and small aquatic vertebrates. They can inflict a painful bite when handled.[4]

Etymology

'Nepa' is a classical Latin word for a 'scorpion' or 'crab'.[5]

Species

N. hoffmanni is found in northeastern Asia

The following species are included in Nepa:[2][3][6]

  • Nepa anophthalma Decu et al., 1994
  • Nepa apiculata Uhler, 1862
  • Nepa cinerea Linnaeus, 1758
  • Nepa hoffmanni Esaki, 1925
  • Nepa remyi Poisson, 1961
  • Nepa sardiniensis Hungerford, 1928

Among these, N. apiculata of eastern North American (Canada and United States), and N. cinerea of Europe, northern Africa and northern Asia, are widespread.[2][4] The remaining have restricted ranges in Corsica, Sardinia, Romania, Morocco and northeastern Asia.[2][3] One of these, N. anophthalma, is the only cave-adapted species in the family Nepidae.[3]

Linnaeus listed a number of additional species in his description of the genus, most of which either are considered synonyms or have been moved to other genera.

References

  1. ↑ Carl von Linné (1757). Systema naturae (10 ed.). p. 440.
  2. 1 2 3 4 S.L. Keffer; J.T. Polhemus; J.E. McPherson (1990). "What Is Nepa hoffmanni (Heteroptera: Nepidae)? Male Genitalia Hold the Answer, and Delimit Species Groups". Journal of the New York Entomological Society. 98 (2): 154–162.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Vasile Decu; Magdalena Gruia; S. L. Keffer; Serban Mircea Sarbu (1994). "Stygobiotic Waterscorpion, Nepa anophthalma, n. sp. (Heteroptera: Nepidae), from a Sulfurous Cave in Romania". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 87 (6): 755–761. doi:10.1093/aesa/87.6.755.
  4. 1 2 Donald Borror; Richard White (1970). A field guide to the insects of America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-395-07436-7.
  5. ↑ 'Nepa' on latin-dictionary.net
  6. ↑ 'Nepa' on ITIS.gov
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