Common Pond Skater Gerris lacustris

This thin brownish-black bug has long legs and large eyes and can be either winged or not. The common pond skater can be seen almost anywhere where there is fresh water.

Conservation status in Norfolk

Not threatened

Click to see the Biodiversity Action Plan Species for this species

How to help

Putting a pond in your garden especially if you live in a town or city will give pond skaters a place to live and breed. Please do not take pond skaters from the wild to put in your pond - or for any other reason. They will find your pond by themselves.
If you want to look at pond skaters more closely, e.g. when pond dipping, please handle them gently and carefully return them to the pond when you have finished.

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Information on the Common Pond Skater

How to recognise

The common pond skater is a thin brownish-black bug with long legs and antennae and large eyes. It is between 8mm and 10mm in length. Two types of pond skater can be found – one with wings and one without. Winged pond skaters hold their wings flat against their body. The pond skater's habit of 'skating' across the water's surface helps to make it one of our most easily recognised freshwater invertebrates.

Where to see

Common pond skaters can be found almost anywhere where there is fresh water including ponds, ditches, lakes, streams and rivers. It often comes to garden ponds. Good places to look for pond skaters are the Broads including the NWT's reserves at Ranworth and Hickling and the NWT reserve of Thompson Common.

When to see

The Common Pond Skater can be seen from late April until October.

Did you know?

Pond skaters are covered with a silvery layer of hair which is water-repellent. This allows them to 'perch' on top of the water. They use their middle and rear legs to get around on the water's surface either by running or, occasionally, hopping. The middle legs are used to push them forward while the back legs are used mainly as a rudder.
Pond skaters are insectivorous and use their feet to sense the vibrations of insects trapped by the surface tension of the water. The shorter front legs are used to catch and hold prey. The pond skater has piercing, sucking mouthparts called a rostrum or 'beak'. These are like a drinking straw with a sharp point on the end that it can use suck up the juices from its prey

Finding out more

Arkive

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