Water treader

Water treaders, the superfamily Mesovelioidea, are insects in the order Hemiptera, the true bugs. They are semiaquatic insects that live in moist and wet habitat and on wet plant matter in several types of aquatic habitat.[1]

Mesovelioidea
Mniovelia kuscheli
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Hemiptera
Suborder:
Heteroptera
Infraorder:
Gerromorpha
Superfamily:
Mesovelioidea
Families

1 or 2, see text

These insects are no more than 3.5 mm long. They have elongated heads, long antennae, and large eyes, with the exception of Cryptovelia species, which have vestigial eyes. Females are larger than the males of their species and have well-developed ovipositors.[1]

The type genus, Mesovelia, contains about 27 species, many of which are common and widespread.[1][2] The other genera are small or even monotypic, and are less common.

One species is known for its unique specific name, Cavaticovelia aaa, sometimes called the aaa water treader. It is a legitimate binomial name following the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, featuring aaa, the Hawaiian word for "lava tube".[3]

According to some treatments, two families are in the Mesovelioidea.[4] In others, the family Madeoveliidae is treated as a subfamily of the Mesoveliidae.[1][5]

The two families, separated, with included genera are:

  • Madeoveliidae
    • Madeovelia Poisson, 1959
    • Mesoveloidea Hungerford, 1929
  • Mesoveliidae – water treaders, pondweed bugs[2]
    • Austrovelia
    • Cavaticovelia
    • Cryptovelia Andersen & Polhemus, 1980
    • Darwinivelia Andersen & Polhemus, 1980
    • Mesovelia Mulsant and Rey, 1852
    • Mniovelia Andersen & Polhemus, 1980
    • Nereivelia
    • Phrynovelia Horváth, 1915
    • Seychellovelia Andersen & Polhemus, 2003
    • Speovelia Esaki, 1929

References
  1. Yang, C. M. and D. H. Murphy. (2011). Guide to the aquatic Heteroptera of Singapore and peninsular Malaysia. 6. Mesoveliidae, with description of a new Nereivelia species from Singapore. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 59, 53-60.
  2. Andersen, N. M. and D. A. Polhemus. (2003). A new genus of terrestrial Mesovellidae from the Seychelles (Hemiptera: Gerromorpha). Journal of the New York Entomological Society (111), 12-21.
  3. Yanega, D. Scientific Names Curious Scientific Names. University of California, Riverside. 2013.
  4. Mesovelioidea Douglas & Scott, 1867. Biolib.cz
  5. Damgaard, J., et al. (2012). Molecular phylogeny of the pond treaders (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Mesoveliidae), discussion of the fossil record and a checklist of species assigned to the family. Insect Systematics & Evolution 43(3-4), 175-212.


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