About Notonecta maculata Fabricius, 1794
Notonecta maculata is a species of small hemipteran insect. Adults are light brown with dark markings across the body and wings, large reddish eyes, and oar-shaped modified hind legs that allow them to swim in water. Fully grown adults reach up to 2 centimeters in length. This species can be told apart from other species in the Notonecta genus by its mottled brick-coloured forewings. N. maculata typically inhabits small freshwater ponds in the United Kingdom, and can also be found in other freshwater environments including storm water retention ponds, lakes, swamps, and rivers. While individuals can spend their entire lives in a single pond, they will fly to a new pond using their wings if vertebrate predators are present. Species of the Notonecta genus choose habitats that support their specific foraging strategies, with habitat selection based on vegetation presence and density, water opacity, substrate nature, and prey abundance and diversity. Younger instars of N. maculata survive best in environments with relatively simple versions of these habitat elements, and have lower survival in more complex environments; survival rates in complex environments increase as N. maculata progresses through its instar stages. N. irrorata, a related species, releases the kairomones n-tricosane and n-heneicosane, which repel oviposition by Culiseta longiareolata mosquitoes in ponds N. irrorata inhabits.
