For the identification of insects and other fauna and flora of South Africa.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

A different kind of water scorpion (Laccotrephes) Family Nepidae

This is very different to another one of the species I posted a while back that breathes through it's tail. This is a big blighter I hauled out of the pool about 4 inches in body length. They mostly eat tadpoles and live just below the surface of the water clinging to the vegetation.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I just found one in my swimming pool. Exactly the same as your. I live in the Eastern Cape. These look different to the ones I have seen on the web. Mine was about 4" long from head to end of tail. If that is a two litre ice cream container then I would say smaller than your specimen. I had no idea what it was, until friends on Facebook enlightened me. :-)