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Sticker of Brown waterscorpion
Bug card No. 0691 of 4,939

Brown waterscorpion

Ranatra fusca
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsTrue bugs and cicadasPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The brown waterscorpion is a long, thin water bug that looks like a floating stick. It is not a real scorpion at all, it is an insect. It hunts other little animals in ponds.

Lives in
North America, in ponds and slow water
Length
3.2 to 4.2 cm (1.3 to 1.7 in)
Top speed
about 3.3 km/h (2.1 mph)
Swimming, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite

Watch out! Read about its close cousin on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?
It eats other insects and small crustaceans that live in the water.
For real!Photo of Brown waterscorpion
Picture by Greg Hume. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Brown waterscorpion about 4.2 cm long (1.7 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 7 grains of rice in a rowcould swim the length of a bathtub in 2.2 secondsmoves 22 times its own body length every second

How big is Brown waterscorpion compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is about as long as your finger, 3 to 4 centimetres.

2

It is called a water stick insect because it looks so much like a twig.

3

It is easiest to find from spring to autumn.

you asked

Most asked questions about Brown waterscorpion

?Is the brown waterscorpion a real scorpion?

No. It is a water bug, an insect with six legs that only looks a bit like a scorpion.

?What does the brown waterscorpion eat?

Other insects and small crustaceans in the water.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Ranatra fusca
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Nepidae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Nepidae
Lives on
North America
Also known as
Brown water scorpion

Where the facts come from

  1. Ranatra fusca (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Greg Hume. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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