Nepa (insect)

Nepa is a genus belonging to the family Nepidae, known as water scorpions. There are six species found in freshwater habitats in the Northern Hemisphere.[2][3]

Nepa
Nepa cinerea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Hemiptera
Infraorder:
Nepomorpha
Family:
Nepidae
Genus:
Nepa

They are oval-bodied, aquatic insects with raptorial front legs. Like other members of the Nepidae, they have a pair of nonretractable cerci-like breathing tubes on the terminal abdominal segment, a characteristic which readily distinguishes them from the Belostomatidae. Their primary staples are other insects and small aquatic vertebrates. They can inflict a painful bite when handled.[4]

Etymology

'Nepa' is a classical Latin word for a 'scorpion' or 'crab'.[5]

Species
N. hoffmanni is found in northeastern Asia

The following species are included in Nepa:[2][3][6]

Among these, N. apiculata of eastern North American (Canada and United States), and N. cinerea of Europe, northern Africa and northern Asia, are widespread.[2][4] The remaining have restricted ranges in Corsica, Sardinia, Romania, Morocco and northeastern Asia.[2][3] One of these, N. anophthalma, is the only cave-adapted species in the family Nepidae, found in Movile Cave.[3]

Linnaeus listed a number of additional species in his description of the genus, most of which either are considered synonyms or have been moved to other genera.

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References
  1. Carl von Linné (1757). Systema naturae (10 ed.). p. 440.
  2. S.L. Keffer; J.T. Polhemus; J.E. McPherson (1990). "What Is Nepa hoffmanni (Heteroptera: Nepidae)? Male Genitalia Hold the Answer, and Delimit Species Groups". Journal of the New York Entomological Society. 98 (2): 154–162.
  3. Vasile Decu; Magdalena Gruia; S. L. Keffer; Serban Mircea Sarbu (1994). "Stygobiotic Waterscorpion, Nepa anophthalma, n. sp. (Heteroptera: Nepidae), from a Sulfurous Cave in Romania". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 87 (6): 755–761. doi:10.1093/aesa/87.6.755.
  4. Donald Borror; Richard White (1970). A field guide to the insects of America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-395-07436-7.
  5. 'Nepa' on latin-dictionary.net
  6. 'Nepa' on ITIS.gov
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