Appasus

{{Short description|Genus of true bugs}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Diplonychusjaponicus.jpg

| image_caption=Male Appasus japonicus with eggs

| taxon = Appasus

| authority = Amyot and Serville, 1843Amyot & Serville (1843). (Roret's Suite à Buffon) Hémiptères: page 430.

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = see text

}}

Appasus is a genus of giant water bugs (family Belostomatidae) found in freshwater habitats in Asia and Africa.{{cite book | editor=Capinera, J.L. |year=2008 | title=Encyclopedia of Entomology | url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaento00capi_189 | url-access=limited | publisher=Springer | page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaento00capi_189/page/n1683 1620] | edition=2 | isbn=978-1-4020-6242-1 }}

Giant water bugs exhibit male parental care. In Appasus and other species in the subfamily Belostomatinae (but not subfamily Lethocerinae), the female glues the eggs onto the male's back, and the male tends them until the eggs hatch.{{cite book |author=Robert L. Smith |date=1997 |chapter=Evolution of paternal care in the giant water bugs (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae) | editor=Jae C. Choe | editor2=Bernard J. Crespi |name-list-style=amp|title=The Evolution of Social Behavior in Insects and Arachnids Sociality |url=https://archive.org/details/evolutionsocialb00choe |url-access=limited |pages=[https://archive.org/details/evolutionsocialb00choe/page/n124 116]–149 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-511-72195-3 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511721953.007}}