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| | | Marine Insects |
Maintained by CoML
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| | Overview | | | Insects are the most abundant animals on land but are poorly represented in the sea. Only a fraction of all insects are marine or intertidal. An example is the marine caddisfly Philanisus plebeius (Trichoptera: Chathamidae) known only from tidal pools in New Zealand and Australia. However, some of the marine insects are of considerable economic or medical importance. Development of millions of acres of coastal land around the world has been impeded by saltmarsh mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae), midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) and tabanid flies (Diptera: Tabanidae), some of which not only bite people but carry human diseases. Many beaches are at times unsuitable for recreation because of an abundance of these biting insects, or of various seaweed flies (Diptera: Coelepidae) or shore flies (Diptera: Ephydridae) that do not bite but occur in such large numbers as to be a nuisance.
Diverse groups of insects represented on the shores include rove and other beetles (Coleoptera), shore bugs (Hemiptera), wingless insects (Collembola and Thysanura).
Associated with insects of marine habitats are other kinds of intertidal air-breathing arthropods, such as spiders, scorpions, mites, centipedes and millipedes. These live and feed with, or on marine insects. In addition, there are the parasites of marine birds and mammals – biting lice and sucking lice in the order Phthiraptera. An example is the blood-sucking louse (Anoplura: Echinophthiriidae) found on the southern elephant seal, Mirounga leonine. |  | | Photo title: Lice on Weddell Seal | | Photo credit: I. Roper | | | | Halobates | | |  The sea-skater Halobates (Hemiptera: Gerridae) is the only insect genus known to live on the surface of the open ocean. The five described species are not only widely distributed but can also be locally abundant. They are found roughly between latitudes 40 deg N and 40 deg S in all three major oceans (Pacific, Atlantic and Indian), each with a well-defined distribution range. Although we know some of the special adaptations which enable Halobates to exist at the sea-air interface, there are still many aspects of their biology waiting to be discovered.
To find records of Halobates distribution, go to OBIS and type in Halobates.
| | Photo title: Sea skater, Halobates sericeus Esch. Adult female, length 3.4 mm | | Photo credit: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla | | | | Based on Cheng, L. 1976 Marine Insects. North-Holland Publishing Company. Amsterdam and Cheng L. 2003. Marine insects. In: Resh, V.H. and Carde, R.T. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Insects. Academic Press, San Diego, Pp. 679-682. Thanks to Lanna Cheng lcheng@ucsd.edu for reviewing this text. | | | | |
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979 Topics - 5229 Related Knowledge - 11257 Members - 47 Editors |
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