Corixidae
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Corixidae
[kə′rik·sə‚dē] (invertebrate zoology)
The water boatmen, the single family of the hemipteran superfamily Corixoidea.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Corixidae
a family of water bugs. The body usually measures 5–6 mm. The tibiae of the front legs are shortened, and the feet are spoon-shaped. There are about 100 species, with 46 distributed in the USSR. The Corixidae live in small bodies of water and swim and fly well. They feed on plants, scraping off the surface tissues, and also completely sucking up seaweed filaments and particles of silt and detritus. The males can stridulate by rubbing their feet over the edges of the upper lip. When there are many Corixidae. the noise they produce becomes audible from the water.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.