On Sun, 2 Jul 2006 14:15:55 +0100, Quilljar wrote:

Today, I observed the water boatmen in our small garden pond raft up in a
kind of star shape. I have never seen this behaviour before, and I wonder if
anyone could explain it to me?
Here is a photo. The actual insects are about one centimetre long.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/...60022413uWvwBn

It's not a water boatman it's a pond skater:
http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/in...ris_lacustris/

This is a water boatman:
http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/biodive...boatman,l.html

We have a few pond skaters on the pond but I've never seen them make a raft like that.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
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