Hermatobates Explained

Hermatobates is a genus of wingless marine bugs placed as the sole genus in the family Hermatobatidae that are sometimes known as coral-treaders. They are quite rare and known only from coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific region. During low tide, they move over the water surface not unlike the more familiar water-striders around coral atolls and reefs and stay submerged in reef crevices during high tide.

The genus was described by the amateur entomologist Rev. George Carpenter in 1892 on the basis of a single specimen obtained from Mabuiag Island in the Torres Straits by Alfred Cort Haddon. The species was described as H. haddoni. The species are very rare and difficult to observe in life. Most subsequent specimens in the genus have been captured using neuston drag nets, sometimes with artificial lights at night. They are differentiated from the striders in the Gerridae by the presence of three tarsal segments on all the legs and with pre-apical claws only on the fore-tarsi. The pronotum is short while the meso- and metanotum are fused.^{[1] [2]}

Species

At least 13 species are known:^[3]

• Hermatobates armatus
• Hermatobates bredini
• Hermatobates djiboutensis
• Hermatobates haddoni
• Hermatobates hawaiiensis ^[4]
• Hermatobates kula
• Hermatobates lingyangjiaoensis ^[5]
• Hermatobates marchei
• Hermatobates palmyra
• Hermatobates schuhi
• Hermatobates singaporensis ^[6]
• Hermatobates tiarae
• Hermatobates weddi

Notes and References

1. Cheng, L.. Yang, C.M.. Andersen, N.M.. Guide to the aquatic Heteroptera of Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia> I. Gerridae and Hermatobatidae. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 2001. 49. 1. 129–148.
2. Herring, J. L.. 1965. Hermatobates. a new generic record for the Atlantic Ocean, with descriptions of new species (Hemiptera: Gerridae). Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus. . 117. 3510. 123-129. 10.5479/si.00963801.117-3510.123.
3. Polhemus, J. T.. Polhemus, D. A.. 2012. A Review of the Genus Hermatobates (Heteroptera: Hermatobatidae), with Descriptions of Two New Species.. Entomologica Americana. 118. 1. 202–241. 10.1664/12-ra-018.1. 85287005.
4. China. W.E.. 1956. XXXVIII.—A new species of the genus Hermatobates from the Hawaiian Islands (Hemiptera-Heteroptera, Gerridae, Halobatinae). Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 9. 101. 353–357. 10.1080/00222935608655822.
5. Luo. Jiuyang. Chen. Pingping. Wang. Yanhui. Xie. Qiang. 2019. First record of Hermatobatidae from China, with description of Hermatobates lingyangjiaoensis sp. n. (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Zootaxa. 4679. 3. 527–538. 10.11646/zootaxa.4679.3.6. 31715949. 207939379.
6. Cheng, Lanna. 1976. A new species of Hermatobates (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). The Pan-Pacific Entomologist. 52. 209–212.