Evidence
Where all of this came from.
39 reference records rest on 224 published pages, and 109 of those come from state and provincial natural-resources departments. That suits a set of records about what lives in the water those departments survey. The rest is federal survey work, university and extension guides, and interagency reports. The counts are below. Every reviewed line sits behind a record or a search, with the sources standing behind its record.
How to read this
A line is cited as precisely as someone checked it.
Where a reviewer traced a line to the pages that carry it, the line names those pages and, when the evidence is narrower than the record, where it comes from — one coast, one lake, one region. 605 of 1049 of the lines below are traced that way. The rest show the sources standing behind their whole record, marked “record’s sources”, because nobody has yet checked which page carried which line, and printing a single citation there would be a mapping nobody made.
National
52
A federal or national government body — USGS, NOAA, EPA, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Park Service, Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
State
109
A state, provincial or commonwealth natural-resources department. Most of this carrier rests here, which suits it: these are the bodies that survey the water the records describe.
Interagency
12
A commission or joint survey run across several agencies, such as the Great Lakes Fishery Commission's forage task groups.
University
45
A university research programme, cooperative extension service or Sea Grant office. Published work, but not the agency that manages the water.
Journal
6
A peer-reviewed paper, or a curated scientific register such as the World Register of Marine Species. Added with the 2026-09-25 evidence review, which went to the primary study where no agency page said what a claim needed.
Probe leftovers
What the weekly check could not treat as ordinary.
These addresses are still the citations. The check named what it saw. None of them is a gone page in the MISIN sense, so the records were not rewritten to hide a redirect, a timeout, or a bot wall.
Iowa DNR — BluegillMoved
The cited address answers through a permanent redirect. GET on the page that lands still names Bluegill.
A same-site move that still names the animal is not the MISIN case. The citation stays until a reviewer reads the new address into the record.
CASG — market squidUnreachable from this network
The California Sea Grant market-squid page times out from the probe network.
NOAA still covers the same animal on this record. The CASG address stays; a timeout is not a reason to drop a citation.
Mass.gov — menhaden and longfin squidRefused the probe
Both creature-feature pages answered 403 from the probe network.
A bot wall is not evidence the page is gone. The citations stay; the weekly check does not fail the build on unverifiable.
Michigan DNR — crayfish identification PDFRefused the probe
The cited PDF answered 403 from the probe network.
A refused PDF is not a 404. The citation stays on the crayfish record until a reviewer can open it.
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute — silversidesRefused the probe
The Menidia page answered 500 from the probe network.
A 500 is not a 404, and it is not a 403. The citation stays.
Claims
Every reviewed line in the app.
Water boatmen →28 lines
- What you can seeMouthparts form a broad triangular beak rather than chewing jaws — this is what makes it a bug and not a beetleWVDEP-INVERT-GUIDE, PURDUE-HEMIPTERA
- What you can seeFlat back ruled across by several narrow dark parallel linesMDC-WATER-BOATMEN
- What you can seeFront feet shaped like scoops and fringed with hairsMDC-WATER-BOATMEN, WVDEP-INVERT-GUIDE
- What you can seeOne pair of long, flattened, oar-like hind legsMDC-WATER-BOATMEN, EPA-MACRO-TIPSHEET
- What you can seeA thin silvery bubble of air trapped against the body, carried under like a diving bellMDC-WATER-BOATMEN
- What you can seeAntennae short and hidden beneath the eyesWVDEP-INVERT-GUIDE, EPA-MACRO-TIPSHEET
- What argues against itSwimming belly-up rules out a boatman — that is a backswimmerMDC-WATER-BOATMEN, EPA-MACRO-TIPSHEET
- What argues against itA back keeled like a boat hull, with no crosslines, is a backswimmerMDC-WATER-BOATMEN
- What argues against itHard wing covers meeting in a straight seam, visible threadlike antennae and chewing mouthparts is a diving beetleMDC-DIVING-BEETLES
- What argues against itA bite points away from a water boatman: Missouri calls it one of the few aquatic true bugs that do not bite peopleMDC-WATER-BOATMENEvidence from: Missouri field guide
- Declared limitSize is stated three incompatible ways — usually under half an inch, about five millimetres, and a coarse bracket class running to 29 mm. The band spans them.MDC-WATER-BOATMEN, PURDUE-HEMIPTERA, WVDEP-INVERT-GUIDE
- Declared limitMissouri describes water boatmen as not predaceous and then qualifies it: a few species eat small aquatic animals. WVDEP classes the family as predators.MDC-WATER-BOATMEN, WVDEP-INVERT-GUIDE
- Declared limitMissouri describes the air store of boatmen and backswimmers in the same words. A University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee account separates them: boatmen wrap air under the wings and around the abdomen, backswimmers hold it in two hair-covered troughs on the belly.MDC-WATER-BOATMEN, UWM-BOATMEN-BACKSWIMMERS
- Declared limitNo source consulted states whether corixids row with alternating or simultaneous leg strokes, so stroke pattern cannot be used to separate them from a diving beetle.MDC-WATER-BOATMEN, MDC-DIVING-BEETLES
- Size bandadult: 4-29 (usually under 13) mmMDC-WATER-BOATMEN, PURDUE-HEMIPTERA, WVDEP-INVERT-GUIDE
- Water typelake-marginrecord’s sources
- Water typereservoirrecord’s sources
- Water typestreamrecord’s sources
- Water typeriverrecord’s sources
- Water typespringrecord’s sources
- Life stagenymphrecord’s sources
- Life stageadultrecord’s sources
- Where it sitsponds and quiet corners of lakes and streams, clinging to submerged vegetationMDC-WATER-BOATMEN, WVDEP-INVERT-GUIDE
- How it movesrows with long oar-like hind legs fringed with fine hairsMDC-WATER-BOATMEN
- How it movesswims the right way up, back uppermostMDC-WATER-BOATMEN, EPA-MACRO-TIPSHEET
- How it movesswims jerkily; flies strongly and comes to lights at night; clumsy out of waterMDC-WATER-BOATMEN
- Sources disagreeWVDEP describes the water boatman's mouthparts as a broad triangular beak; a University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee account says boatmen lack the standard piercing beak of other aquatic true bugs.record’s sources
- Sources disagreeMissouri says water boatmen are not predaceous and do not bite people, apart from a few species that eat small aquatic animals; WVDEP classes the family as predators.record’s sources
- Missouri Department of ConservationMDC-WATER-BOATMEN · State · read 2026-09-04
- West Virginia Department of Environmental ProtectionWVDEP-INVERT-GUIDE · State · read 2026-09-04
- Purdue University ExtensionPURDUE-HEMIPTERA · University · read 2026-09-04
- Missouri Department of ConservationMDC-DIVING-BEETLES · State · read 2026-09-04
- U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyEPA-MACRO-TIPSHEET · National · read 2026-09-04
- University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Field StationUWM-BOATMEN-BACKSWIMMERS · University · read 2026-09-25
The pages themselves
All 224, and what each one is holding up.
- Missouri Department of Conservation
MDC-DIVING-BEETLES
- Missouri Department of Conservation
MDC-WATER-BOATMEN
- Purdue University Extension
PURDUE-HEMIPTERA
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPA-MACRO-TIPSHEET
- University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Field Station
UWM-BOATMEN-BACKSWIMMERS
- West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
WVDEP-INVERT-GUIDE
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