Water striders - Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water again.

Water striders eating a fallen bee.

Water striders are true bugs, belonging to the order Hemiptera (class Insecta).  All true bugs have piercing mouth parts, kind of like mosquitoes, whose job it is to pierce tissues (either plant or animal) and suck the liquid nourishment from within.  

Immediately after piercing the host's tissues, water striders inject a potent saliva cocktail that both paralyzes the organism and facilitates the chemical breakdown of solids.  The fluids are then slurped up and the feeding continues.  

I have known about water striders taking on small prey, such as springtails, but wasn't aware that they actually could overpower larger organisms.  This happens only when they are not breeding.  They will cooperatively take on prey larger than themselves.  By working together, they can both incapacitate and kill meals that will feed a community.

I photographed this a couple of days ago while visiting one of the ponds on Knox Mountain.  I don't know if the bee was already dead and they were taking advantage of an easy meal or if they somehow managed to overwhelm one that was collecting water on the shore.  Either way, it was quite the find.

Thanks for reading.   

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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