Water Strider Gerris sp
The family Gerridae contains insects commonly known as water striders, water bugs, magic bugs, pond skaters, skaters, skimmers, water scooters, water skaters, water skeeters, water skimmers or water skippers. These are predatory insects which rely on surface tension to walk on top of water. They live on the surface of ponds, slow streams, marshes, and other quiet waters. They can move very quickly, up to m/s. Water striders can stand effortlessly on water due to their non-wetting legs. Writing in Nature, biophysicists Xuefeng Cao and Lei Jiang show that the water resistance of the legs is due to the "special hierarchical structure of the legs, which are covered by large numbers of oriented tiny hairs (microsetae) with fine nanogrooves". They go on to demonstrate that the water resistance is due more to this physical structure than the chemical properties of the wax coating of the legs.
Size: 5042px × 3361px
Photo credit: © Phil Degginger / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: bug, bugs, gerris, insect, jesus, pond, skater, skaters, skeeter, skeeters, skipper, skippers, strider, striders, surface, tension, walking, water
