Reproduction

          In all water bugs species, females actively search for potential partners while the male is charged with the caretaking of the eggs until hatching. Many true water bugs are known to lay their eggs upon a male during the mating season which is late spring and early summer. About 50-100 eggs are carried and protected by the male adult water bug for about 2 weeks until they hatch. Shown below is an image of a male Belostomatidae water bug carrying its payload of eggs. A nymph water bug is very similar to the adult form and differs only in the absence of membranous wings which will become developed during it's 5 molting stages. These water bugs go through "simple," metamorphosis, meaning that the larval stages of are similar to the adult stages.

 

         L. americanus differs from the majority of water bugs in that it does not lay eggs upon the back of a male for him to carry. Instead, a female L. americanus lays her eggs on vegetation near a water source, but not in the water itself. This protects her eggs from being eaten other predators in the water. The male L. americanus does retain many of it's fatherly duties though, as it protects the eggs from terrestrail predators, shades the eggs, and brings water to the eggs from the water source in order to keep them moist.