Hydrochara

Abstract: A new species of hydrophilid beetle, Hydrochara major sp. n., is described from sea level in northern Anatolia (Asiatic Turkey). The key and list of Hydrochara spp. known from Turkey are presented with additional distributional data.

Abstract: The fossils originally assigned to the family Hydrophilidae (Coleoptera, Polyphaga) from the late Miocene locality of Ohningen (southern Germany) are revised. Nine hydrophilid species are recognized, most of them representing the tribe Hydrophilini. Five species are reliably assigned to genera: Hydrochara noachica (Heer, 1847), n. comb. (=Hydrophilus rehmanni Heer, 1847, n. syn.), Hydrobiomorpha braunii (Heer, 1847), n. comb. (=Hydrous escheri Heer, 1862, n. syn.), Hydrobiomorpha heeri n. sp., Hydrophilus spectabilis Heer, 1847 (=Hydrophilus knorrii Heer, 1847, n. syn., =Hydrophilus giganteus Heer, 1862, n. syn.), and Hydrophilus vexatorius Heer, 1847. Two taxa are treated as Hydrophilini incertae sedis: Hydrophilopsis elongata Heer, 1862, and Hydrous ovalis Heer, 1862. Two species represent Hydrophilidae incertae sedis: Escheria ovalis Heer, 1847 and E. bella Heer, 1862. The fossil genus Hydrophilopsis Heer, 1862 likely represents the modern genera Sternolophus Solier, 1834 or Hydrobiomorpha Blackburn, 1888, the fossil genus Escheria Heer, 1847 likely represents some modern genus within the Hydrophilini or Hydrobiusini. Six taxa are excluded from the Hydrophiloidea: Helophorus magnus Heer, 1862, H. exilis Heer, 1862 (possibly belonging to Curculionidae), Hydrobius couloni Heer, 1862 and H. godeti Heer, 1862 (both possibly belonging to Curculionidae: Zygopinae), Hydrophilus braunii var. minor Heer, 1862, and Hydrophilus stenopterus Heer, 1862 (likely a leaf fossil). Our revision revealed a rather high amount of inaccurate family and genus assignments and a moderate amount of species-level synonymy in the original treatment of Ohnigen fauna by O. Heer. The diversity of the hydrophilid beetles in Ohningen is thus lower than previously reported, but still being slightly higher compared to other European Paleogene and Neogene localities.

Abstract: Hydrobiomorpha perissinottoi sp. nov. is described from iSimangaliso Wetland Park, in the Maputaland region of KwaZulu-Natal, Republic of South Africa. The new species was found in a range of small wetlands around Lake St. Lucia, where it appears to be relatively abundant. Diagnostic notes are provided to allow H. perissinottoi sp. nov. to be distinguished from other Afrotropical species of the genus, together with information on its ecology. The new species was part of a diverse water beetle fauna and co-occurred with the superficially similar Hydrochara fulvofemorata (Fairmaire, 1869), which is reported from the Republic of South Africa for the first time.

Abstract: The recently described Hydrochara major Incekara, Mart, Polat, & Karaca, 2009 from Turkey is transferred to the genus Brownephilus Mouchamps. New records and habitat information are given for the species, as well as diagnostic features for separating it from the only other described member of the genus, Brownephilus levantinus Balfour-Browne. The discovery of Brownephilus in Turkey marks the first time the lineage has been found since its original description more than seventy years ago.