Stinging freshwater Hydroids mussles and beetles

[popolarbear]

this weekend i got stung by what one person i talked to claimed to be a stinging freshwater mussle. aparently in some areas tiny mussles will sting you. im familar with stinging aquatic beetles, but i think it would be difficult to get into a situation were youd get stung.(perhaps picking up aquatic weeds, i have gotton stug in this method, and disscovered these beetels the first time. typicaly white carpace, and actualy a hemenoptera and not a beetle, but they look like a beetle).
situation was, i think, ... i grabed a large bolder to hold my position while in strong river current and got stung. the pain throbed and grew and encased my whole hand before hours latter dissapearing...
anyone hear about such a thing??

[BioDiver]

I'm not aware of any mussel, at least in the Minnesota region, that can sting. Cut you if you step on them, sure, but not sting. Not even the freshwater jellyfish or Hydra spp. found in Minnesota are large enough to sting a human.

I am also not aware of any Hemenoptera (or Hymenoptera) that have an aquatic life stage. I also don't know of any that look the way you describe. My bet is that you got bit by a Hemiptera or some other large predatory insect larvae; maybe a Megaloptera? Some of those suckers can give you quite a pinch!

[DiverQueen]

Sounds like a good reason to wear neoprene or thin leather gloves!  :o  Good thing we're not where the sharks are!  ;D

[popolarbear]

ah yeah. woops. and i did well in collage entomology class. you are right biodiver. it is the genus Hemiptera
this is i believe the actual bug in question. they hurt like a ****. and feels like a sting. but it might actualy be some kind of painfull venomous bite rather than a sting. looks like a beetle but is actualy a bug. commonly called a back swimmer. very small and very very painfull for its size.


im still looking for more info on stinging mussles. it may perhaps be just one life stage that is like this.the guy i talked to who introduced me to this notion, claimed that in some parts of the river these are a problem. anyone else hear anything about stinging mussles???

[BioDiver]

Yeah, those bugs can certainly give you quite a bite or even a poke. I believe those backswimmers like you posted actually have piercing mouthparts. Meaning they basically "spear" what they want to bite or eat and then "suck" out the insides. My guess is you ticked one off so he gave you a good stabbing.

I still can't find anything about stinging mussels though. Most early life-cycle mussels around here are a parasitic stage called glochidia. They attach to the gill filaments of fish and then later drop off as they mature. From there they are basically just smaller versions of adults. The glochidia would be much too small to sting and the young adults have all the same body parts as the adult mussels do, just smaller.

Let us know if you find anything popolarbear.