Re: Underwater mysteries

["Richard Ranft" richard6054]

John,

Other candidates are aquatic bugs. Many water boatmen (family Corixidae) and
backswimmers (fam. Notonectidae) stridulate underwater.  These aquatic bugs
belong to the insect order Hemiptera (true bugs). I recorded a water boatman
of the genus Micronecta a while ago from a pond in south London.  A sample
is at the bottom of this page:

http://www.bl.uk/collections/sound-archive/listentonature/soundstax/insects.html

I managed to capture several Micronecta and the tiny (2 mm length) bugs
thrived in a cider bottle on my window ledge for a year, feeding on nothing
more than algae and merrily chirping like crickets.  I got quite fond of
them - until a decorator washed his paintbrushes in what he thought was a
container of rainwater.

Most water boatmen stridulate by scraping one limb against another, but male
Micronecta do it by rotation of their genital capsules - ouch!

Richard
Sussex, UK