Common pond skater
The common pond skater can walk on water. It is a thin dark brown bug with long legs that spread out over the pond like skis. Tiny waxy hairs keep it dry, so it glides across the surface without sinking.
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Fun facts
Its middle legs row it along, its back legs steer like rudders, and its short front legs catch food.
It can skim over the water at about 1,5 metres every second.
It feels the tiny ripples made by an insect struggling on the water and rushes over.
If its pond dries up, it walks over land to find new water.
The females are usually much bigger than the males.
Most asked questions about Common pond skater
?How does a pond skater walk on water?
Its legs are covered in tiny waxy hairs that do not get wet, so the water surface holds it up.
?What does a pond skater eat?
Insects that fall into the water, and other small water creatures.
?Do pond skaters bite?
They are harmless to people. Their beak is for sucking up small insects.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Gerris lacustris
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- True bugs and cicadas
- Family
- Gerridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hemiptera > Gerridae
- Lives on
- Europe
- Also known as
- Common water strider
Where the facts come from
- Gerris lacustris (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by James K. Lindsey. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same 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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