Ok, so I was surfing in Maui last week, and I was just sitting on my surfboard waiting for a wave when I noticed a little prick on my leg. I raised my leg out of the water and saw this bug about the size of a grasshopper and it was blackish, I waived my leg around like a maniac and then the bug was gone and the pain settled in. I paddled to shore to take a look at it and there was a stinger about 1/3" long stuck in my leg - my leg had a 1/2" diameter spot that was raised/swoolen and a 2" diameter that was red. About a half hour after I pulled the stinger out, the swelling went down. My brother thought is was a jellyfish until he saw the stinger - someone else thought it was a sandfly, but they don't sting, just bite.
What could it have been - I'm not really worried, just curious...
2007-12-17 08:41:51 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
Water scorpions don't sting - they bite. I had a definate stinger that I pulled out.
2007-12-17 09:03:14 · update #1
You may be barking up the wrong tree. Its possible that your bug attached to you in the air and when you put your leg underwater the bug bit you. So don't limit your search to "water bugs". With a removable stinger I would guess it was in the Hymenoptera family.
2007-12-17 11:55:22 · answer #1 · answered by paul 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You're sure you were stung? hmmm... I would say it was a Giant Water Bug or Water Scorpion, but as you've said... they don't sting... lemme do some more research...
2007-12-17 09:07:26 · answer #2 · answered by Reduviidae 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
water scorpions ,and they really hurt
but their are many aquatic biting bugs
2007-12-17 08:50:39 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋