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Transvaal Museum index South Africa

GIANT WATER BUG

Giant Water Bugs are amongst the largest bugs and the largest aquatic insects. The largest specimen in the Transvaal museum is 78,0 mm long and 30,2 mm wide excluding the limbs. It was collected in Pretoria nearly 90 years ago on 15 April 1909 by A Meyer.

Giant Water Bug, Lethocerus cordofanus, Order Heteroptera

A large and formidable aquatic predator which includes small fish and tadpoles in its diet. Unlike many aquatic insects such as dragonflies, which are able to use dissolved oxygen, giant water bugs, and some other aquatic bugs, use surface oxygen and breathe through modified tails which act as a snorkel. Giant Water Bugs are able to fly when they are mature, but like other insects, the juveniles are wingless and unable to fly. The presence of wings in insects can generally be regarded as an adult feature.

In some species of Giant Water Bug, the male looks after the eggs, which the female lays on his back, a form of parental care.

A Giant Water Bug from the Transvaal Museum Collection.