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Sticker of Australian water scorpion
Bug card No. 0232 of 4,939

Australian water scorpion

Laccotrephes tristis
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsTrue bugs and cicadasPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The Australian water scorpion is a flat, brown water bug that lives in ponds and creeks. It has front legs like pincers for grabbing food, and a long thin tail. That tail is not a sting at all: it is a breathing tube, like a snorkel.

Lives in
All over Australia except Tasmania, and the islands of Indonesia, in still, shallow water
Length
2.6 to 3.6 cm (1 to 1.4 in)
Top speed
about 3.1 km/h (1.9 mph)
Swimming, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite
It is not a real scorpion and has no sting, but it can give a painful jab with its sharp beak if you pick it up. Watch it in the water instead.
What does it eat?
It waits very still and grabs tadpoles, small fish and mosquito larvae with its pincer legs.
For real!Photo of Australian water scorpion
Picture by Rolf Lawrenz. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Australian water scorpion about 3.6 cm long (1.4 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 6 grains of rice in a rowcould swim the length of a bathtub in 2.3 secondsmoves 24 times its own body length every second

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cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It carries an air bubble under its wings. When the bubble runs low, it pokes its breathing tube up through the water surface to fill it up.

2

It is a poor swimmer and mostly crawls slowly through the water.

3

It sometimes covers its back with mud to hide while it waits for prey.

4

It has strong wings and can fly, but people hardly ever see it flying.

5

Its eggs have little breathing horns that stick out into the air, even when the egg is hidden in mud.

you asked

Most asked questions about Australian water scorpion

?Can a water scorpion sting?

No. Its long tail is a breathing tube, not a sting. It can poke with its beak if handled, though.

?What does the Australian water scorpion eat?

Tadpoles, small fish and mosquito larvae that it catches with its front legs.

Myth buster

Myth: Water scorpions sting with their tail, like real scorpions.

Truth: No. The long tail is a breathing tube that it uses to get air.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Laccotrephes tristis
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Nepidae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Nepidae
Lives on
Australia and Oceania, Asia
Also known as
Toe-biter

Where the facts come from

  1. Laccotrephes tristis (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 Rolf Lawrenz. CC BY 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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