The semiaquatic gerromorphans

Abstract

The Gerromorpha comprise a group of mainly semiaquatic predatory bugs that play important roles in freshwater ecosystems. Despite its current low economic importance, there are evidences that certain groups may be utilized in the biological control of mosquitoes and agricultural pests or as potential indicators of biological quality in aquatic habitats. They are rather diversified in general appearance, structurally very diverse, and their two-dimensional habitat makes them ideal subjects for ecological and behavioral analysis. The Neotropical fauna of Gerromorpha is relatively well known, but more than a hundred undescribed species are known to exist. This fact, allied to the existence of large under-collected areas, makes taxonomic and faunistic studies concerning the semiaquatic bugs from tropical America urgent.