Giant Toe Biter Bugs
Common Name: Giant Water Bug, Toe-Biter Bug Scientific Name: Abedus herberti
Order: Hemiptera
Range: Southwestern United States and adjacent Mexico.
Diet: Small insects and occasional minnows.
Reader Rail Information: These aquatic predators live in the still water of ponds and may even be found in cattle tanks. The common name, toe-biter, comes from the myth that they bite swimmers’ toes. Their flattened hind legs are used as oars, but these water bugs are still awkward swimmers. Toe-biters catch their prey underwater by hanging motionless from vegetation near the surface, front legs outstretched to snatch prey as it passes by. The bugs pierce their prey with their stout beaks, inject digestive juices, and suck out the insides. Females cement their pale brown eggs to the back of the male, who rocks gently back and forth near the surface to aerate the eggs during incubation.
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