Ranatra

Ranatra is a genus of generally slender predatory members of the family Nepidae, known as water stick-insects or waterscorpions. Their front legs are strong and are used to grasp prey. They breathe through a pair of long breathing pipes extending from their tails. They eat tadpoles, small fish and other insects, which they pierce with their beak and inject a saliva which both sedates and begins to digest their prey. They overwinter as adults, and lay eggs in spring. The females lay eggs in vegetation. The eggs take typically two to four weeks to hatch, and the young take about two months to mature. When full grown they are 4-5 in.

Ranatra fusca is the namesake of an award for exemplary creativity in the international student problem solving competition Odyssey of the Mind, because the insect served as the inspiration for a particularly creative solution to a problem in the early days of the program.