LIFE HISTORY OF ABEDUS HERBERTI IN CENTRAL 
ARIZONA (HEMIPTERA: BELOSTOMATIDAE)* * 
By Robert L. Smith 
Department of Zoology 
Arizona State University 
Tempe, Arizona 85281 
Introduction 
Torre Bueno in 1906 noted the meagerness of information on the 
biology and immature stages of aquatic Hemiptera. Although this 
condition has changed somewhat in the more than 60 subsequent 
years, complete life histories for representatives of only two of the 
five genera belonging to the subfamily Belostomatinae (Lauck and 
Menke 1961) are available. Belostoma is represented by B. flu- 
mineum Say (Torre Bueno 1906), B. oxyurum (Dufour), B. bi- 
foveolatum Spinola (Schnack 1971), and B. malkini Lauck (Cullen 
1969). The Old World genus Limnogeton is represented by L. 
fieberi Mayr (Voelker 1968). Menke (i960) was successful in 
bringing a single individual Abedus dilatatus (Say) to its fifth instar, 
at which time it died. Life histories for representatives of the genus 
Lethocerus include: L. americanus (Leidy) (Rankin 1935 ), L. cor- 
dofanus Mayr (nec. L. niloticus Stal) (Tawfik 1969), L. mazzai 
De Carlo (De Carlo 1962), and L. maximus De Carlo (Cullen 
1969). Nothing is known of the immature stages of 1 Horvathinia 
(subfamily Horvathiniinae, Lauck and Menke 1961). The tax- 
onomy and distribution of Abedus herberti , as well as a behavioral 
and ecological sketch of the genus, is provided by Menke (i960). 
Methods and Materials 
I collected adult bugs, including males encumbered with eggs, with 
the aid of a gasoline lantern at night from the following central 
Arizona localities: Sycamore Creek, Maricopa County, near Sun- 
flower; Camp Creek, Maricopa County, near Carefree; and Tule 
Creek, Yavapai County, in the Bradshaw Mountains. 1 Plastic bags 
containing stream water isolated individuals for transport to the 
Henke’s 1960 revision recognizes polytypy in A. herberti. The central 
Arizona specimens studied in this paper belong to “subspecies herberti ” 
in contradistinction to “subspecies utahensis. ,y 
* Manuscript received by the editor July 1 , 1974. 
272 
