''Aquarius'' is a genus of
water strider
The Gerridae are a family of insects in the order Hemiptera, commonly known as water striders, water skeeters, water scooters, water bugs, pond skaters, water skippers, or water skimmers. Consistent with the classification of the Gerridae as t ...
s found predominantly in the northern hemisphere. Formerly a subgenus, ''Aquarius'' was elevated to generic rank in 1990 on the basis of
phylogenetic
In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...
analysis. These are among the world's largest water striders, with females averaging long and males roughly 10–30% smaller, depending on the exact species. An outlier is ''A. elongatus'' where both sexes typically are about , roughly the same as certain ''
Cylindrostethus'', and second only to ''
Gigantometra gigas
''Gigantometra'' is a monotypic genus of water-strider bugs, containing the species ''Gigantometra gigas'': its name indicating that it is the largest species in its family Gerridae. It has been found in pools of fast-flowing, subtropical and t ...
''.
Species
There are 17 species in the genus ''Aquarius'':
*''
Aquarius adelaidis'' (Dohrn, 1860)
*''
Aquarius amplus
Aquarius may refer to:
Astrology
* Aquarius (astrology), an astrological sign
* Age of Aquarius, a time period in the cycle of astrological ages
Astronomy
* Aquarius (constellation)
* Aquarius in Chinese astronomy
Arts and entertainment ...
'' (Drake & Harris, 1938)
*''
Aquarius antigone'' (Kirkaldy, 1899)
*''
Aquarius chilensis'' (Berg, 1881)
*''
Aquarius cinereus'' (Puton, 1869)
*''
Aquarius conformis
''Aquarius conformis'' is a species of water strider in the family Gerridae. It is found in eastern North America from Quebec west to Wisconsin and south to Florida and Mexico.
Adults reach lengths of 15–16.5 mm. ''Aquarius conformis'' ...
'' (Uhler, 1878)
*''
Aquarius distanti'' (Horváth, 1899)
*''
Aquarius elongatus'' (Uhler, 1896)
*''
Aquarius fabricii'' Andersen, 1990
*''
Aquarius lili'' D.A. Polhemus & J.T. Polhemus, 1994
*''
Aquarius najas'' (De Geer, 1773)
*''
Aquarius nebularis'' (Drake & Hottes, 1925)
*''
Aquarius paludum'' (Fabricius, 1794)
*''
Aquarius philippinensis'' Zettel & Ruiz, 2003
*''
Aquarius remigis'' (Say, 1832)
*''
Aquarius remigoides'' Gallant & Fairbairn, 1996
*''
Aquarius ventralis'' (Fieber, 1861)
References
Gerrini
Gerromorpha genera
{{gerromorpha-stub