A New Subterranean Aquatic Beetle from Texas (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae-Hydroporinae)

Abstract

The 1st blind, depigmented, aquifer-adapted water beetle of the family Dytiscidae is described from North America. Haidcopoms texanus Young and Longley (n. genus, n. sp.) is superficially similar to Morimotoa phrcatica Ueno from Japan, but differs in possessing minute, apparently nonfunctional eyes, and in sensory setal vestiture and structure of the tarsi and external male genitalia. The remarkable similarity of the fore and middle coxae and the relationship of the prosternal process to the metasternum among Haideoporus, Morimotoa, and Siettitia (a cave-adapted genus from southern France) is thought to be due to convergence as an adaptation to subterranean life parallel to the condition seen in many cave carabids (Coleoptera: Carabidae). The world fauna of subterranean aquatic beetles and the associates of Haideoporus are discussed.

Etruscodytes nethunsn. gen., n. sp.: the first phreatic water beetle from Italy (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Hydroporinae)

“…Guignot 1931;Ordish 1976;Young & Longley 1976;Larson & Labonte 1994;Jean et al 2012); shape of the apex of the metasternum (e.g. Abeille de Perrin 1904; Guignot 1925); sterna 2 and 3 fused or not (e.g.…”

“…Descriptions of new genera and species of Dytiscidae and Noteridae from these regions started with Peschet (1932), followed by Sanfilippo (1958), Ordish (1976), Young and Longley (1976), Franciscolo (1979b), Ordish (1991), Larson and Labonte (1994), Spangler and Barr (1995), Spangler (1996), Miller et al (2009), andJean et al (2012).…”

North American Stygobiontic Diving Beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Hydroporinae) with Description of Ereboporus naturaconservatus Miller, Gibson and Alarie, New Genus and Species, from Texas, U.S.A

“…This species was discovered in a well on the campus of Texas State University in San Marcos, Hays County, Texas (Young and Longley 1976) and subsequently also found at Comal Spring, Comal County, Texas (Bowles and Stanford 1997), the type locality for C. stygius (see above). The larva of Haideoporus has been described (Longley and Spangler 1977), making it the only subterranean dytiscid larva from North America described to date.…”

“…''Cave or aquifer-adapted aquatic beetles are extremely rare'' (Young and Longley 1976). This was thought to be true 30 years ago, but knowledge of these beetles has changed dramatically since then.…”

“…Until recently, stygobiontic (aquatic subterranean or groundwater adapted) diving beetles (Dytiscidae) were documented only from widely separated geographic areas. Species were sporadically known from New Zealand (Ordish 1976(Ordish , 1991, Spain (Castro and Delgado 2001), France (Abeille de Perrin 1904), China (Spangler 1996), Thailand (Spangler 1996), Mexico (Franciscolo 1979), Venezuela (Sanfilippo 1958), west Africa (Peschet 1932), and Japan (Uéno 1996;Wewalka et al 2007), in addition to a few species in North America (Young and Longley 1976;Larson and Labonte 1994;Spangler and Barr 1995). With the exception of Morimotoa Uéno, 1957 (3 species), Phreatodessus Ordish, 1976 (2 species) and Siettitia Abeille de Perrin, 1904 (2 species), most of the 13 genera in which these species were placed are monotypic.…”