Water Striders


 

 

Click HERE to open the image gallery.


Water Striders (Gerridae) are a predatory "true" bug. They are often seen zipping around over the surface of ponds, exploiting surface tension as a means of support. Although well-equipped to fly, they do so primarily to locate a suitable body of water where they then spend almost all their time on the surface. A very interesting aspect of their behaviour is that they communicate by means of putting ripples at various frequencies into the the water. 

The first two pictures in the gallery are of a typical strider habitat, where the remaining images were taken. You can learn more about striders here and many other places on the Web simply by Googling.

The pictures featured in this gallery section were taken in late June, 2011, at a pool in a mountain stream. It was evidently the mating season.

All pictures taken with Nikon D7000 and Micro-Nikkor 105 mm VR, ISO 1000.