[NatureNS] Giant Water Bug bite - yowsers!

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Date: Wed, 22 May 2013 18:43:06 -0300 (ADT)
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>A friend of mine who fishes lobsters in the Bras D'Or had one come up in
a trap a few days ago and asked for identification.  Are they common in
salt water as well?

 For a few years, I've been working on an aquatic insect project. Today my
> student Mallory and I caught a number of Giant Water Bugs (
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethocerus_americanus) and larger Predaceous
> Diving Beetles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predaceous_diving_beetle).
> The
> bugs are also known as "toe-biters". I've never heard of any toes getting
> bit, they normally feed on tadpoles, salamanders and more.
>
> Mallory and I brought the live insects back to the lab and were working
> with one of the bugs...they grab onto you with their raptorial claws,
> which
> is mildly annoying, but then I saw the proboscis start to move - it
> pierced
> me before I knew it, and the pain it caused was akin to a mild or moderate
> bee sting. And it lasted for a good five minutes. Years ago, I picked a
> backswimmer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backswimmer) out of a net and
> received a sharp bite (again, more of a piercing)...the bug bite today was
> very similar to that. The two insects are both true bugs, but I've really
> no idea if the pain-causing agent is the same in both.
>
> Randy
> _________________________________
> RF Lauff
> Way in the boonies of
> Antigonish County, NS.
>


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