What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

help id unknown water bug

hi, i found some interesting bugs in local surface water but i cant find out what they are.
The biggest ones (adults?) are maybe 1-1.5mm large.
They have a flat underside and rounded upside, like tiny ladybugs.
Not sure how many legs they have or if they are even legs, but they got small moving things at the underside.
They swim like drunken bees and also seem to be able to crawl on surfaces pretty well.
The smaller ones seem translucent but anything bigger then 1/2 adult size is dark (brown maybe).
The bigger ones seem to have 4 bright spots on their back, 2 on each side.
The seem to like being in places with lots of light but also coverage from duckweed.
They mostly keep close to surfaces etc.

They arent seedshrimp (at least not the common ones), i got those in my aquarium and they look totally different.
They arent daphnia, copepods, scuds either.
I don't think they are larvae of something bigger, there are to many of the ones i can see (few hundreds/thousands in 1/10 gallon of water) without anything else that might be the next stage.
 
was thinking an aquatic mite, however you are describing them as on the surface more than under the surface and swimming down below?

MTF
 
The are mostly swimming just below the water surface and near the surface of the soil/rock in there were it's lightest, and occasionally crawling a few millimeters on something and then back to surface.
Most of the time they are just in a big swarm like daphnia.
The dont come above the water surface at all.
 
Back
Top