ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a cursory introduction to the colonization of typical inland water bodies by insects and serves as a prelude to the story of the successful adaptation of certain insects to specific conditions under which most other insects would quickly perish. It also provides a cursory survey of the general habits and adaptations common to the aquatic insects and collembolans most frequently encountered throughout the world. The chapter identifies and defines some of the broad categories of the aquatic hexapods that are most commonly encountered. By far the most aquatic insects can be classified ecologically in one or more of these categories, and they can be considered to be those to which the hexapods have become best adapted. The chapter also provides a basic review of some of the most common kinds of aquatic habitats to which species of Hexapoda are adapted.
