{{Short description|Genus of true bugs}} {{Automatic taxobox | image =Abedus_herberti.jpg | image_caption = ''Abedus herberti'' (male with eggs) at the Cincinnati Zoo | taxon = Abedus | authority = Stål, 1862 | subdivision_ranks = Species }}
'''''Abedus''''' is a genus of giant water bugs (family Belostomatidae) found in freshwater habitats in southern United States, Mexico and Central America.<ref name=Hussey1950>{{cite journal | author1=Roland F. Hussey | author2=Jon L. Herring | year=1950 | title=A Remarkable New Belostomatid (Hemiptera) from Florida and Georgia | journal=The Florida Entomologist | volume=33 | issue=2 | pages=84–89 | doi=10.2307/3492076 | url=http://journals.fcla.edu/flaent/article/download/55461/53140 | jstor=3492076 | access-date=2018-11-04 | archive-date=2017-09-23 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923004930/http://journals.fcla.edu/flaent/article/download/55461/53140 | url-status=dead | url-access=subscription | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=Capinera2008>{{cite book | editor=Capinera, J.L. |year=2008 | title=Encyclopedia of Entomology | publisher=Springer | page=1620 | edition=2 | isbn=978-1-4020-6242-1 }}</ref> Sometimes called '''ferocious water bugs''',<ref name=SaintLouisZoo>{{cite web | title=Ferocious Water Bug | url=https://www.stlzoo.org/animals/abouttheanimals/invertebrates/insects/truebugs/ferociouswaterbug | publisher=Saint Louis Zoo | access-date=6 April 2018 | archive-date=4 November 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181104170505/https://www.stlzoo.org/animals/abouttheanimals/invertebrates/insects/truebugs/ferociouswaterbug | url-status=dead }}</ref> these brown insects typically are between {{convert|2.3|and(-)|4|cm|in|abbr=on|1}} long,<ref name=Hussey1950/><ref name=Smith1998>{{cite journal| author1=R.L. Smith | author2=C. Horton | year=1998 | title=Fish predation on giant water bug (Heteroptera: Belostomatidae) eggs in an Arizona stream | journal=Great Basin Naturalist | volume=58 | issue=3 | pages=292–293 }}</ref> although ''A. immaculatus'' only is about {{convert|1.3|-|1.4|cm|in|abbr=on }}, making it the smallest North American belostomatid and possibly worthy of separation in its own genus.<ref name=Epler2006>{{cite web| author=J.H. Epler | year=2006 | title=Identification manual for the aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera of Florida | url=https://publicfiles.dep.state.fl.us/dear/labs/biology/biokeys/heteroptera.pdf | publisher=Florida Department of Environmental Protection | access-date=6 April 2018 }}</ref> Otherwise the different ''Abedus'' species are very similar and can often only be separated with a microscope.<ref name=BugGuideAherberti>{{cite web| title=Species Abedus herberti | url=https://bugguide.net/node/view/255056 | publisher=BugGuide | access-date=6 April 2018 }}</ref> They will bite in self-defense, which is painful but not dangerous.<ref name=BugGuideAherberti/>
==Behavior== Members of this genus generally do not fly,<ref name=Lytle1999>{{cite journal| author=Lytle, D.A. | year=1999 | title=Use of Rainfall Cues by Abedus herberti (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae): A Mechanism for Avoiding Flash Floods | journal=Journal of Insect Behavior | volume=12 | issue=1 | pages=1–12 | doi=10.1023/A:1020940012775 | bibcode=1999JIBeh..12....1L }}</ref> and at least some species, including ''A. herberti'', have a greatly reduced flight apparatus and are completely flightless.<ref name=Thorp2015>{{cite book | editor1=J.H. Thorp | editor2=D.C. Rogers |year=2015 | title=Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates: Ecology and General Biology | publisher=Elsevier | pages=954–955 | volume=1 | edition=4 | isbn=978-0-12-385026-3 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| author1=Phillipsen. I.C. | author2=Kirk, E.H. | author3=Bogan, M.T. | author4=Mims, M.C. | author5=Olden, J.D. | author6=Lytle, D.A. | year=2015 | title=Dispersal ability and habitat requirements determine landscape-level genetic patterns in desert aquatic insects | journal=Mol. Ecol. | volume=24 | issue=1 | pages=54–69 | doi=10.1111/mec.13003 | pmid=25402260 | bibcode=2015MolEc..24...54P }}</ref> Despite being essentially aquatic ''Abedus'' may travel some distance overland and have been known to abandon streams after heavy rainfalls, allowing them to avoid being swept along in flash floods.<ref name=Lytle1999/>
===Breeding=== thumb|Several ''Abedus herberti'', including both males with eggs on their back and individuals without eggs
Giant water bugs exhibit male parental care. In ''Abedus'' and other species in the subfamily Belostomatinae (but not subfamily Lethocerinae), the female glues the eggs onto the male's back and the male tends them until the eggs hatch.<ref name=Smith1998/><ref>{{cite book |author=Robert L. Smith |date=1997 |chapter=Evolution of paternal care in the giant water bugs (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae) | editor=Jae C. Choe & Bernard J. Crespi |title=The Evolution of Social Behavior in Insects and Arachnids Sociality |pages=116–149 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-511-72195-3 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511721953.007}}</ref> The eggs are initially yellow-white but gradually change to gray-brown.<ref name=Smith1998/><ref name=Smith1974>{{cite journal| author=R.L. Smith | year=1974 | title=Life History of Abedus herberti in Central Arizona (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae) | journal= Psyche: A Journal of Entomology| volume=89 | issue=2 | pages=272–283 | doi=10.1155/1974/83959 | doi-access=free }}</ref> They can be quite large compared to the size of the adult; in the up to {{convert|4|cm|in|1|abbr=on|adj=mid|-long}} ''A. herberti'' of streams in southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico each egg can measure as much as {{convert|6|x|2|mm|in|abbr=on|2}} when fully developed.<ref name=Smith1998/><ref name=Bogan2013>{{cite journal| author1=M.T. Bogan | author2=O.G. Gutiérrez-Ruacho | author3=J.A. Alvarado-Castro | author4=D.A. Lytle | year=2013 | title=New Records of Martarega, Graptocorixa, and Abedus (Heteroptera: Notonectidae, Corixidae, Belostomatidae) From Northwestern Mexico and Arizona, Including the First Record of Graptocorixa emburyi In the United States | journal=The Southwestern Naturalist | volume=58 | issue=4 | pages=494–497 | doi=10.1894/0038-4909-58.4.494 | bibcode=2013SWNat..58..494B }}</ref> After hatching, the nymphs go through five instar stages before adulthood.<ref name=Smith1974/>
Because of the unusual breeding behavior, especially ''A. herberti'' is often displayed in zoos, sometimes together with the sunburst diving beetle.<ref>{{cite web | author=O’Sullivan, T. | url=http://titag.org/2016/2016papers/osullivanthermonectus.pdf |title=Captive rearing study of the Thermonectus marmoratus | publisher=St. Louis Zoo |access-date=9 April 2018 }}</ref> These two species also occur together in the wild.<ref name=Velasco1998>{{cite journal| author1=J. Velasco | author2=V.H. Millan | year=1998 | title=Feeding Habits of Two Large Insects from a Desert Stream: Abedus herberti (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae) and Thermonectus marmoratus (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) | journal=Aquatic Insects | volume=20 | issue=2 | pages=85–96 | doi=10.1076/aqin.20.2.85.4500 | bibcode=1998AqIns..20...85V }}</ref>
===Feeding=== ''Abedus'' are sit-and-wait predators that catch small animals, especially invertebrates such as other aquatic insects and snails, but also small vertebrates such as young fish and tadpoles.<ref name=SaintLouisZoo/><ref name=Velasco1998/> Small and medium-sized prey items are caught with their strong front legs and stabbed with the proboscis, which injects a saliva that both incapacitates the prey and dissolves it.<ref name=Velasco1998/> The largest food category (in ''A. herberti'', animals {{convert|1.2|cm|in|abbr=on|1}} or more in length) are mostly scavenged. The only prey they regularly catch alive (not just scavenge) in the largest category is nymphs of their own species.<ref name=Velasco1998/> Adults are generally highly cannibalistic towards their nymphs and older nymphs often eat younger; adults however only rarely cannibalize other adults.<ref name=Smith1974/><ref name=Velasco1998/>
==Species== List of species:<ref>{{cite web|title = Abedus Stål, 1862|url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=103717|work = Integrated Taxonomic Information System|access-date=2020-11-09}}</ref> <br /> Subgenus ''Abedus'' *''Abedus breviceps'' Stål, 1862 *''Abedus ovatus'' Stål, 1862 *''Abedus parkeri'' Menke, 1966
Subgenus ''Deinostoma'' *''Abedus decarloi'' Menke, 1960 *''Abedus dilatatus'' (Say, 1832) *''Abedus herberti'' Hidalgo, 1935 *''Abedus immensus'' Menke, 1960 *''Abedus indentatus'' (Haldeman, 1854) *''Abedus stangei'' Menke, 1960
Subgenus ''Microabedus'' *''Abedus immaculatus'' (Say, 1832)
Subgenus ''Pseudoabedus'' *''Abedus signoreti'' Mayr, 1871 *''Abedus vicinus'' Mayr, 1871
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q4666482}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Nepomorpha genera Category:Belostomatidae Category:Taxa named by Carl Stål