Water Scorpion, Genus Ranatra

[GiantVinegaroon]

I recently acquired a Ranatra sp. and I must say, this is truly one bad*** bug. I fed it a cricket the other day(that it took from my hand) and the next day I found the cricket floating around in the tank. At first I thought "Oh wow I guess it wasn't hungry after all" but when I picked it up, the exoskeleton crinkled in my hand, with no innards squirting out. He just sucked out the innards! SO COOL!

How is it that their saliva is not venom?

 

[Bugs In Cyberspace]

What makes you ask why it is not venom? Far as I know, it is.

My wife collected one of these at the Bugguide.Net event in Pack Forest, WA this summer. Cool bugs!

 

[GiantVinegaroon]

What makes you ask why it is not venom? Far as I know, it is.

My wife collected one of these at the Bugguide.Net event in Pack Forest, WA this summer. Cool bugs!

Well everything I read called it saliva that turns the insides to mush...never really called it venom...so I thought it wasn't venom.