Water Boatman

• Boatmen are bugs, not beetles, because they have leathery front wings covering delicate hind wings.
• Named for their long, flattened and fringed hind legs used like rowboat oars.

Adult Appearance

• Boatmen found in rivers tend to be small.
• Two tone colour with dark backs and pale yellow abdomen.
• White trim.
• Abdomen can appear silvery when wrapped in a bubble of air.
• Flattened, oval shaped bodies.
• Folded wings form an "X" on the back.
• Hind legs are long.
• At rest, true bugs cover their membranous hind wings with leathery front wings.

Adult Behavior

• Common in ponds, sloughs, fountains, birdbaths and other standing water.
• Move at the surface with strong thrusts of their long hind legs.
• Swim erratically in jerky movements.
• Found at and below the water surface.
• Spend much of their time clinging to submerged vegetation.
• Capable of flight between bodies of water.
• Take-off easily from the water surface.
• Swim to the surface to replenish their supply of oxygen.
• Boatmen do not have gills and must surface regularly.
• Boatmen carry a bubble of air when diving.

Feeding Type

• Herbivorous scrapers feeding on algae, detritus and micro-animals.
• May eat small midge and mosquito larvae.
• Forelegs are used to collect food.

Habitat

• Live in all types of water - ponds or rivers.
• In areas where ponds freeze, many species fly to deep water to overwinter.
• Very large migrations are made to spend winter in larger, deeper water that is also used for breeding grounds.

Reproduction

• Life cycle includes egg, larvae, pupae and adult stages.
• Adults mature in the fall.
• Boatmen appear in great numbers along kilometres of shoreline in the North Saskatchewan River during September.
• Males rub the pegs on their front feet against their heads to produce a chirping sound attractive to females.
• Egg laying occurs in the fall as flying females dive into the water.
• Females dropping out of the air into water in great numbers can sometimes give the impression of rain.
• Eggs are laid in still water.
• Larvae go through several moults before emerging as winged adults.

Pollution Tolerance

• Water boatmen swim at the surface and do not live underwater.
• Adults are not dependent on dissolved oxygen.
• Boatmen are not necessarily useful as indicators of water quality.
• The presence of a high percentage of boatmen in a sample may indicate a disturbed or over-enriched site with lower water quality.