Family OCHTERIDAE Kirkaldy, 1906 - velvety shore bugs
J.T. Polhemus
The family contains 3 genera and about 36 species, distributed worldwide, but much more prevalent in the tropics. All species are predaceous on arthropods as far as known. Species are found on open muddy or sandy shores, or in hygropetric habitats, but some species are cryptic, living under the banks of streams. They overwinter as adults or fourth instar nymphs. Eggs are laid singly on plant debris or sand grains; nymphs carry sand on their backs. A few species are wing-dimorphic; the flightless forms are submacropterous with reduced hind wings.
World catalogue: none. Palaearctic catalogue: J.T. Polhemus, 1995e. Monographs: Baehr, 1990 (Australia); Kormilev, 1971a (Asia), 1973 (Africa). Biology: Bobb, 1951; Boulard & Coffin, 1991.