Water Bug, sometimes Water Scorpion and Water Boatman, the name given to a section of the hemipterous family Notonectidae. The hind legs are long and adapted for swimming. The body is prismatic in form, convex above and flat beneath, and the head is as large and as wide as the body. The antennae are four-jointed.
Notonecta is the typical genus of the family. To the allied family Nepidae also belong species of the water bug, more especially named water scorpion.
Nepacinerea is a familiar species. In Nepa the body terminates in a long breathing tube, and the antennae are three-jointed. The water bug is predaceous, living chiefly on the larvae of other insects.
