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Lethocerus
Plate 1 of 9. (c) Jakob Fahr, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Jakob Fahr · via iNaturalist

Lethocerus

Lethocerus is a genus of the hemipteran family Belostomatidae, known colloquially as giant water bugs, toe biters and electric light bugs, distributed in tropical, subtropical and temperate areas of the world. The greatest diversity of species occurs in the Americas, with only a single species in Europe, two in Africa, two in Australia and three in Asia. It includes the largest true bugs with species capable of reaching a length of over 12 centimetres (4.7 in). The South American L. grandis and L. maximus are the only species to commonly exceed 9 cm (3.5 in), with more typical lengths for the remaining species being between 4.5 and 9 cm (1.8 and 3.5 in). Lethocerus sp. are distinguished from other genera in the Lethocerinae (Benacus and Kirkaldyia) by two symmetrical furrows in the inner pad of setae on the fore femur, the external borders of parasternites II and III narrowed and nearly straight, and with the setae of the tarsomeres following the line of the tibial setae.

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22 branches of this genus, most-observed first

American Giant Water Bug

speciesLethocerus americanus

Uhler's Giant Water Bug

speciesLethocerus uhleri

Lethocerus medius

speciesLethocerus medius

Asian Giant Water Bug

speciesLethocerus indicus

African Giant Water Bug

speciesLethocerus cordofanus

Australasian Giant Water Bug

speciesLethocerus insulanus

Indo-East Mediterranean Giant Water Bug

speciesLethocerus patruelis

Lethocerus collosicus

speciesLethocerus collosicus

Lethocerus annulipes

speciesLethocerus annulipes

Lethocerus maximus

speciesLethocerus maximus

Lethocerus truxali

speciesLethocerus truxali

Madagascan Giant Water Bug

speciesLethocerus oculatus

Lethocerus distinctifemur

speciesLethocerus distinctifemur

Lethocerus grandis

speciesLethocerus grandis

Lethocerus delpontei

speciesLethocerus delpontei

Lethocerus dilatus

speciesLethocerus dilatus

Lethocerus angustipes

speciesLethocerus angustipes

Lethocerus camposi

speciesLethocerus camposi

Lethocerus jimenezasuai

speciesLethocerus jimenezasuai

Lethocerus mazzai

speciesLethocerus mazzai

Lethocerus melloleitaoi

speciesLethocerus melloleitaoi

Lethocerus bruchi

speciesLethocerus bruchi

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Where it lives

Recorded sightings

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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.

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Every page naming Lethocerus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →

This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 81571.