Altavelia, a new genus of Neotropical Veliinae (Heteroptera: Gerromorpha: Veliidae), with a key to species and descriptions of four new species from Colombia

Abstract

The new genus Altavelia Polhemus & Moreira (Heteroptera: Gerromorpha: Veliidae) includes seven species previously contained in the inveruglas group of Paravelia Breddin, 1898 and four new species from Colombia: A. altoandina Molano & Morales, A. antioquia Molano & Morales, A. montana Molano & Morales, and A. quindiana Molano & Morales. Additionally, A. amoena (Drake, 1957) is synonymized with A. flavomarginata (Hungerford, 1930). The genus is characterized by prominent setal tufts or sclerotized wing-like processes on the male proctiger; elongate body shape with long, slender legs; uniformly blackish forewings; antennal segment I longest; and the female abdomen with tergum VIII deflexed. Species in this genus occur at high elevations in the Andes Mountains with records from 1500 to 3600 m. A key is provided to all 11 species in the genus and new distributional records are presented for A. boliviana (Breddin, 1898), A. columbiensis (Hungerford, 1930), and A. flavomarginata.

The Heteropterans (Gerromorpha and Nepomorpha) of Andean lakes from Colombia

“…Several species of semiaquatic bugs inhabit lotic ecosystems in Colombia's high Andes such as genera Altavelia (elevation: 1,500-3,600 m), Eurygerris fuscinervis (lotic and lentic ecosystems, elevation: 800-3,000 m), Microvelia piedrancha (elevation: 2,275 m), and Paravelia daza (elevation: 2,700-3200 m) in the south-west Andean mountain range (Padilla-Gil & Arcos, 2010;Padilla-Gil & Moreira, 2011;Padilla-Gil & Moreira, 2013;Polhemus, Molano, Morales, Moreira, & Floriano, 2019). However, lake heteropterans are little known, although genus Buenoa from the tropical lakes of the Pacific coast (elevation: 10 m) was studied by Padilla-Gil (2014a); in contrast, the composition of the Buenoa species are different between the Pacific and Andean lakes.…”

Gerromorpha: insectos semiacuáticos, desarrollo en la última década en Colombia

“…Los géneros más diversos en Colombia son Microvelia y Rhagovelia, debido a la ampliación de registros y a la descripción de nuevas especies. El primero contaba hasta 1992 con cinco especies y a la fecha presenta 20 especies; el segundo pasó de 21 especies en 1997 a 80 especies actualmente (Padilla-Gil y Damgaard, 2011; Padilla-Gil y Moreira, 2011; 2013; Padilla-Gil y Pacheco-Chaves, 2012; Morales-C y Castro-Vargas, 2013;Padilla-Gil, 2013d;2019a;Aristizábal-García et al, 2015;Floriano et al, 2016;2019;Molano et al, 2016;2017;2018a;Castro-Vargas et al, 2018;Martínez et al, 2019;Polhemus et al, 2019;Rodrigues y Álvarez, 2019).…”

A new species of Oiovelia from Colombia, with notes for other three species of South American Veliinae (Heteroptera: Gerromorpha: Veliidae)

“…Paravelia is currently comprised of 51 described species and its distribution extends from Mexico to Argentina (Rodrigues et al, 2014b;Aristizábal-García et al, 2015;Rodrigues & Moreira, 2016b, c;Polhemus et al, 2019). The species can be collected in a great variety of environments such as emergent vegetation of streams and lakes, temporary pools, in the tanks of bromeliads, and subterranean waters in caves.…”

“…The species can be collected in a great variety of environments such as emergent vegetation of streams and lakes, temporary pools, in the tanks of bromeliads, and subterranean waters in caves. The taxonomy of the genus has been examined in the recent years, with articles aimed at redescribing and photographing known species, as well as describing new species (e.g., Polhemus, 2014;Rodrigues et al, 2014b;Rodrigues & Moreira, 2016b, c;Polhemus et al, 2019). In general, in the field it is common to collect only one or a few specimens of Paravelia species.…”

“…The subfamily Veliinae (Veliidae) is represented in the American continents by seven genera: Altavelia Polhemus & Moreira, 2019, Oiovelia Drake & Maldonado-Capriles, 1952, Paravelia Breddin, 1898, Platyvelia Polhemus & Polhemus, 1993, Steinovelia Polhemus & Polhemus, 1993, Stridulivelia Hungerford, 1929, and Veloidea Gould, 1934 (Moreira, 2015;Polhemus et al, 2019). All species of these genera are endemic to the New World, except Paravelia taipiensis (Chessman, 1926), which is recorded from the eastern Pacific (Rodrigues et al, 2014b).…”