Nepa water scorpions

[Trace]

I am very interested in the exotic species of water scorpions. I am preparing to obtain 2 Malaysian Nepa sp?. Is there anyone out there that could pin down an exact species for that genus? Has anyone ever been successful breeding these guys in captivity? Can they be housed together? What is their life span?

 

[Gigas]

im familliar with the african species, housing together is not recommended as ie often seen them consuming each other in the wild, life span i would guestimate at around 3+ years, they need shallowish water and are quite voracious predators preffering fish. this is for the african species i assume the asian would fit the same bill

 

[Wade]

The nymphs of the Africans will eat each other, but the adults generally do not. This is fairly typical of most aquatic true bugs actually. Orin McMonigle has bred the these many times.

Some of the large waterscorpions in the trade are possibly in the genus Laccotrephes and not Nepa, but getting a positive ID without sending a dead adult specimen to a waterscorpion expert (how many of those do you figure there are ? ) is probably impossible.

Be sure to post pictures, I'd love to see how the Malaysians compare to the Africans.

Wade

 

[local hero]

Do you have any idea how to breed them? Or even how to sex them?

 

[Wade]

The key to breeding them is providing the right kind of surface for the females to lay eggs on/in. I have not been able to get it right, but Orin uses a sponge with finely ground peat moss (from peat pellets) on top. The peat should be sticking out of the warter, but just barely. In the wild, they lay eggs in mud just above the water line.

Wade

 

[aggie08]

I take it these are just Hemipterans with a misleading name?

 

[Gigas]

i searched for these hemipteras and thugh body shape is similar they are not the same, water scorps front legs are converted into grabbing arms kind of like a praying matis except horizontal, they also have an elongated breathing spiracle for a tail which gives them theere name

 

[lucanidae]

Water scorpions are hemipterans, true bugs, family nepidae. The raptorial forlegs are found in other predatory hemipterans as well; such as ambush bugs (reduviddae.) The spiracle mounted on the long siphon tube is just a adaptation to aquatic life, many Diptera larvae and some Lepidopteran larvae also have siphons, as well as other orders.

 

[Gigas]

is that what he ment crap sorry i googled it and all i got were bugs that sucked sap disregard that other post

 

[aggie08]

Cool. sure look mean.

 

[Peter_Parker]

Where can you find these?