Halobates
Halobates or sea skaters are a genus with over 40 species of water striders. Most Halobates species are coastal and typically found in sheltered marine habitats (a habitat where a few other genera of water striders also live), but five live on the surface of the open ocean and only occur near the coast when storms blow them ashore. These are the only known truly oceanic, offshore insects. They are found in tropical and subtropical marine habitats around the world, with a single species recorded in rivers a few kilometers upstream from the ocean. Halobates are generally very common.
| Halobates Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Halobates hayanus (zoological specimen seen from above with first leg pair not visible and remaining moved towards the rear) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hemiptera |
| Suborder: | Heteroptera |
| Infraorder: | Gerromorpha |
| Superfamily: | Gerroidea |
| Family: | Gerridae |
| Genus: | Halobates Eschscholtz, 1822 |
| Species | |
|
More than 40, see list | |
They were first collected by Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, a doctor who was part of a Russian expedition aboard the Rurik between 1815 and 1818.
A fossil species H. ruffoi is known from 45 million year old deposits in Verona, Italy.
Close relatives of the genus include Austrobates and Asclepios.