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This book recounts the habits of many interesting and unusual exceptions to the rule that insects are typically terrestrial forms of life. It examines the different ways that groups of species have developed modes of existence in or on the surface of water, and gives reasons why the gross morphology of insects is not favorable for life in or near bodies of water, such as wings that fail to function after coming into contact with water, rendering them useless.
List of contents
Hexapods and Water: An Introduction to Aquatic Insects and Collembolans. General Classifications of Water Bodies Inhabited by Hexapods. Life on the Surface Tension. Herbivorous Insects on Aquatic Plants. Hexapods on the Roots and Rhizoids Beneath the Pseudoterrestrium. Active Submerged Hunters of Microorganisms and Small Prey in Lentic Water. Insects that Construct Underwater Shelters. Ambushers in Streams. Underwater Tunnel-Diggers, Aquatic Crickets, and Swimming Grasshoppers. Insects Inhabiting Rainwater. Hexapods in Mosses and Lichens. Insects of Phytotelmata. Insect Fauna Living in Insectivorous Plants. Aquatic Hexapods Active on Ice and Snow. Adults That Do Not Eat. Life in Water Without Oxygen. Insects on the High Seas. Marine Littoral Hexapods. Living in Hypersaline Water. Petroleum Flies. Larvae that Live in Sponges. Parasitoid Larvae in Aquatic Insects. Flies and other Insects that eat Snails. Flies that Give Wedding Presents. Aquatic Insects that kill People. Insects that use People for Bait. Flies in Hot water. Ants and water. What we Still need to discover.
About the author
Charles W. Heckman, retired, is affiliated with the Max-Planck Institute for Limnologie, Plon, Hamburg, Germany.
Summary
This book recounts the habits of interesting and unusual exceptions to the rule that insects are typically terrestrial forms of life. It examines different ways that groups of species developed modes of existence in or on the surface of water, and gives reasons why the gross morphology of insects is not favorable for life in or near bodies of wa
