Water treader

Water treaders
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hemiptera
Suborder:	Heteroptera
Infraorder:	Gerromorpha
Superfamily:	Mesovelioidea
Families
Madeoveliidae Mesoveliidae (but see text)

Water treaders (superfamily Mesovelioidea) are insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). These "typical" bugs (suborder Heteroptera) are the most ancient living lineage of the semiaquatic bugs of the infraorder Gerromorpha.^[1]

At the first glance, they appear like a normal assassin bug adapted to the lifestyle of a water strider or a similar gerromorph. And in fact, apart from some minor autapomorphies of the assassin bugs and Pachynomidae (which together make up the most ancient Cimicomorpha) versus those of the Mesovelioidea, this is essentially what they are.

The type genus Mesovelia is quite large by the standards of Gerromorpha, but the other genera are small or even monotypic (though new species are occasionally described). A taxonomically interesting species is the Aaa Water Treader (Cavaticovelia aaa) with its odd but entirely legitimate specific name – "aaa" is the only word (as opposed to abbreviations and acronyms) consisting of a triply repeated letter "a" currently in active use by English speakers. It is of Hawaiian origin, pronounced "a-aah" and means "clinker lava".

In some treatments, the Madeoveliidae are included in the Mesoveliidae as a subfamily, making the water treaders monotypic at family rank. But this is unnecessary, since it is fairly certain that the group consists of two well-marked and apparently monophyletic lineages, each consisting of several genera. There is thus no reason to consider them anything but two good families.

Systematics

As noted above, the groups often treated as subfamilies make up the major clades in this superfamily. Since taxonomic rank is not a fixed measure of distinctness but simply a convenient way to address the main subdivisions – ideally the main clades – of the next higher-ranked taxon, there is really no justification to treat the superfamily Mesovelioidea as containing a single family with two subfamilies.

• Madeoveliidae
  • Madeovelia Poisson, 1959
  • Mesoveloidea Hungerford, 1929
• Mesoveliidae
  • Cavaticovelia
  • Cryptovelia Andersen & Polhemus, 1980
  • Darwinivelia Andersen & Polhemus, 1980
  • Mesovelia Mulsant and Rey, 1852
  • Mniovelia Andersen & Polhemus, 1980
  • Phrynovelia Horváth, 1915
  • Speovelia Esaki, 1929

Footnotes

1. ^ ToL (1995)

References

• Tree of Life Web Project (ToL) (1995): Gerromorpha. Water striders, water measurers, velvet water bugs, and water treaders. Version of 1995-JAN-01. Retrieved 2008-JUL-28.

This article related to members of the insect order Hemiptera is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Hemiptera stubs Hemiptera Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат Trimeresurus sumatranus malcolmi DRG Class 02 Look at other dictionaries: water treader — ▪ insect       any insect of the approximately 30 species of the family Mesoveliidae (order Heteroptera). These small, slender insects are yellowish or greenish in colour and are 5 millimetres (0.2 inch) or less in length.       Mesoveliids are… …   Universalium water treader — noun : a bug of the family Mesoveliidae usually found at the edges of ponds but sometimes on the surface of the water …   Useful english dictionary water bug — (Roget s IV) n. Water bugs include: skipper, skater, water beetle, walking stick, water weevil, back swimmer, giant water bug, Croton bug, gerrid, water flea, water scorpion, water mantis, water scavenger, water treader, water boatman, water… …   English dictionary for students water gnat — noun Britain : marsh treader …   Useful english dictionary Dawn Treader — This article refers to the ship itself, the Dawn Treader. For the book by C. S. Lewis which features this ship, see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The Dawn Treader as featured in the 2010 film adaption The Dawn Treader was a Narnian ship in the… …   Wikipedia The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader — This article is about the film. For the novel, see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Theatrical poster Di …   Wikipedia The Voyage of the Dawn Treader — For the film adaptation of the novel, see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader   …   Wikipedia marsh treader — ▪ insect also called  water measurer        any insect of the family Hydrometridae (order Heteroptera), so named because of its slow, deliberate manner of moving as it walks along the surface of a pond or crawls among shore vegetation. Marsh… …   Universalium Cavaticovelia — Taxobox name = Aaa Water Treader regnum = Animalia phylum = Arthropoda classis = Insecta ordo = Hemiptera subordo = Heteroptera infraordo = Gerromorpha superfamilia = Mesovelioidea familia = Mesoveliidae genus = Cavaticovelia genus authority =… …   Wikipedia heteropteran — ▪ insect order Introduction   any member of the insect order Heteroptera, which comprises the so called true bugs. (Some authorities use the name Hemiptera; others consider both the heteropterans and the homopterans to be suborders of the… …   Universalium 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”