The front
legs of bugs in
Ranatra are strong and used to grasp prey. They typically eat other insects,
tadpoles and small fish, which they pierce with their
proboscis and inject a saliva which both sedates and begins to digest their prey. They are
sit-and-wait predators that reside among water plants and position themselves head-down with their grasping legs extended out to surprise passing prey. Like other members in the family they have a long tail-like
siphon, or breathing tube, on the rear end of their body.
Ranatra do have wings and they can fly. The adults are active year-round, except in extreme cold. Their eggs are positioned on plants just below the water surface, but in some species they can be placed in mud. The eggs typically take two to four weeks to hatch and the young take about two months to mature. RanatraLinearisHead.JPG|
Ranatra linearis Ranatra chinensis.svg|
Ranatra chinensis Water Scorpion - Ranatra species, Merrimac Farm Wildlife Management Area, Aden, Virginia.jpg|
Ranatra crawling on human fingers Among the four genera in the subfamily
Ranatrinae,
Austronepa and
Goondnomdanepa are restricted to Australia.
Cercotmetus from Asia to New Guinea resembles
Ranatra, although the former has a distinctly shorter siphon. ==Species==