(Class Insecta, Order Hemiptera, Family Naucoridae)
Invertebrates Around Las Vegas, Wildlife Around Las Vegas
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Creeping Water Bugs (Family Naucoridae), are aquatic bugs usually seen creeping along the bottom of gravel streams. They are small bugs, but broad and flattened, with forelegs modified into what look like huge "pinchers" in the front. It seems that every stream in the desert with a Naucorid bug has a different species, and that each is endangered. |
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This creeping water bug, Ambrysus mormon, was found crawling on a rock wall in Zion National Park where a spring higher on the wall produced a small flow of water. |
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Creeping water bugs (Ambrysus mormon) are tiny creatures with forelegs structured like huge pinchers. They apparently use these legs to grasp the substrate in their riffles, evidenced by the way this little bug gripped the palm of my hand. |
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Creeping water bug on the bottom of a sandy stream in southern Utah. |
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