Waterscorpion!

As always, click the image to enlarge

At the onset of last Monday's aquatic expedition (perhaps more on that later) to Rocky Fork in Scioto County, Ohio, I mentioned to Laura Hughes that I'd really like to see a waterscorpion, which would be a new one for me. She began searching, and darned if she didn't produce one by noodling around at the base of twisted sedge (Carex torta) tussocks at the stream's edge! This is an amazing predatory bug that resembles a walking stick. It sits in hiding under the water and pounces on lesser insects, jabbing them with a stiletto-like proboscis. The waterscorpion sticks that long tube arising from its posterior to the water's surface, and takes in air through it. Sort of like a guy hiding under the water, breathing through a hollow reed. I believe this waterscorpion is Ranatra fusca.

Bugs never cease to amaze me.