Water wasp: a small reason to be careful in wild bodies of water (9 photos)

All lovers of adventure books know that bodies of water in exotic countries are teeming with dangers. In Africa - crocodiles with hippos, in South America - piranhas with alligators.





A beautiful beetle, it’s a pity that it bites painfully.

Of course, they won’t devour it entirely, but they can ruin your vacation on a sunny summer day. A great master in this area is smoothie.



If you see such a beetle turned upside down, run away from this pond! This insect is not dead, it is waiting to attack!

This is such a small bug. It lives all over the world, except perhaps Antarctica. Most often, lovers of freshwater reservoirs in captivity encounter the common smoothie.





So that's where you are! Finally, I met the culprit of all my problems!

The smoothie is a small and unremarkable reptile: adult individuals grow no more than 1.5 cm. But the ambitions of the insect required more than the name aquatic, God forgive me, a bug. Therefore, the beech tree honestly earned the nickname “water wasp” or “water bee”. No, he doesn't make honey. And his carcass is not striped black and yellow. He, the bastard, bites extremely painfully!



I don't make honey. Yes, even wrong.

Gladysh belongs to predators with sucking-piercing mouthparts. This means that it turns its prey into a summer refreshing cocktail: it pierces it with its proboscis, injects digestive enzymes and waits for the victim’s insides to dissolve into a nutritious protein smoothie. For the sake of gastronomic variety, the bug will not attack a person. But if these one and a half centimeters of a predator are not noticed and accidentally crushed, then, of course, he will be offended and cling to it.



Smoothie larvae differ from adults only in size and lack of wings. This means that from birth they also behave aggressively!

And it’s not so easy to notice. Firstly, because of the size, and secondly, because of the manner of sticking out under water, with only one butt pointing out! There, in the back of the abdomen, nature, in a fit of humor, placed his respiratory organs. So it’s not just the hedgehog from the joke who breathes with his butt!



Girls, let's sign up for a splits master class!

However, even if the smoothie floats and does not “breathe,” it is equally difficult to see it both from the surface and from under the water. This show off showed off here too. It swims with its belly up, and its belly, unlike most inhabitants of the aquatic world, is colored darker than its back. If you look from below, it will merge with the light surface, and if from above, then go and see a brownish speck on the dark surface.



Draw me like one of your French girls!

But he himself can clearly see what he can grab for lunch. The bedbug has a varied diet: it will with equal pleasure grind up both a gaping fry and a fly that has plopped into the river. Moreover, he will not disdain individuals of his own species if he notices that he is superior to them in the weight category. But we must give the smoothie its due: with its gluttony it brings benefits. Among his favorite foods are mosquito larvae. And, admit it, we suffer from mosquito bites much more often than from some kind of water bug.



- Little one, if you are being held hostage, just blink! - But fish can't blink!

But under water the smoothie is cool and will not be disturbed. On land, it turns into an awkward cuttlefish. Powerful paws with bristles, which help to swim briskly, become only a hindrance when walking. Having climbed to the surface, the bug somehow moves by crawling, clinging to the sinful earth with four short legs. But it doesn't matter. If the reservoir where the smoothie lives begins to dry up, the bug quickly flies to new lands. Yes, imagine, this biting creature can also fly.



Damn, I don’t think I’ve been drinking, but my legs are getting tangled!

Sometimes smoothies are kept as pets. They really look funny and are interesting to watch. However, due to their habit of biting anything that swims poorly, they will have to have a separate aquarium. And you need to feed the insects regularly, otherwise they will attack each other.