June 30th OOTD: Milky Backswimmer!

Today’s OOTD is a little aquatic insect in the genus Notonecta called a Milky Backswimmer. This odd-looking creature is a fierce predator to prey as large as tadpoles or small fish! Though this observation is not to the species level, it is the first of its genus to be identified on the Merck Forest property and in Bennington County!

Members of this genus are known to be able to inflict a painful “bite” on humans with their sharp mouthparts, or proboscis. Hopefully this observer didn’t suffer that fate!

Though Milky Backswimmers are aquatic, they can fly! This helps them get a fresh supply of oxygen from the air, and it helps them disperse from one microhabitat to another.
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Join us on July 24th and July 24th at Merck Forest to explore and find some unidentified organisms during BioBlitz 2021!

Links

Merck Forest Website Event Page
Merck Forest Registration Page
iNaturalist Project Page
Facebook Event Page

Photograph: © Zac Cota (CC BY-NC)

Publicado el 30 de junio de 2021 a las 03:36 PM por maxmiley