Howard O. Deay

The Hemiptera of Indiana, I. Family Gerridae

The species of water striders,-known also as water spiders, pondskaters and wherrymen-inhabit the ponds, small lakes, creeks and quieter waters of the larger streams in Indiana. Being gregarious, they often congregate in great numbers in inlets, in the slack waters below boulders, or in the swift current itself. Ordinarily, they are predacious and feed upon such aquatic insects as the larvae of midges and nymphs of back-swimmers, or upon such terrestrial insects as may fall into the water. Besides living insects, they devour also insects that have been dead for some time, and, when food is scarce, they even practice cannibalism eating their own nymphs and the weaker adults.