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Gerromorpha

Water striders, water measurers, velvet water bugs, and water treaders

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taxon links [up-->]Hydrometridae [up-->]Gerridae [up-->]Veliidae [down<--]Heteroptera Interpreting the tree
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This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.

The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.

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You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.

For more information on ToL tree formatting, please see Interpreting the Tree or Classification. To learn more about phylogenetic trees, please visit our Phylogenetic Biology pages.

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Tree from Spence and Andersen (1994)
Containing group: Heteroptera

Other Names for Gerromorpha

References

Damgaard, J., N. M. Andersen, and R. Meier. 2005. Combining molecular and morphological analyses of water strider phylogeny (Hemiptera-Heteroptera, Gerromorpha): effects of alignment and taxon sampling. Systematic Entomology 30(2):289-309.

Spence, J. R. and N. M. Andersen. 1994. Biology of water striders - interactions between systematics and ecology. Annual Review of Entomolgy 39:101-128.

Information on the Internet

Title Illustrations
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Scientific Name Hydrometra stagnorum
Location Slovenia
Comments Water measurer
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Life Cycle Stage Adult
Copyright © Andrej Gogala
Scientific Name Gerris lacustris
Location Slovenia
Comments Water strider
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Life Cycle Stage Adult
Copyright © Andrej Gogala
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Citing this page:

Tree of Life Web Project. 1995. Gerromorpha. Water striders, water measurers, velvet water bugs, and water treaders. Version 01 January 1995 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Gerromorpha/10811/1995.01.01 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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This page is a Tree of Life Branch Page.

Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a branch and a leaf of the Tree of Life is that each branch can be further subdivided into descendent branches, that is, subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

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Gerromorpha

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