Elmidae of Sarawak: the genus Potamophilus Germar, 1811, with a description of P. kelabitensis sp. nov. (Insecta: Coleoptera)

Abstract

Potamophilus kelabitensis sp. nov., a new riffle beetle (Coleoptera, Elmidae) discovered in the Kelabit Highlands (northern Sarawak) and Sapulut environment (southern Sabah), is described. Illustrations of the habitus and diagnostic characters of the new species are presented. Differences from the type species P. acuminatus (Fabricius, 1792) from the Palaearctic region, based on DNA barcodes and morphological characters, are discussed. Selected morphological characters of all known species of Potamophilus from Vietnam, Myanmar, and Papua New Guinea are also compared with the new species. The systematic position of the genus relative to other sympatric genera of the subfamilies Larainae LeConte, 1861 and selected Elminae Curtis, 1830 belonging to three tribes is discussed based on phylogenetic trees inferred from the mitochondrial COI and nuclear ArgK as well as 18S rRNA gene sequences.

Potamophilus acuminatus (Fabricius, 1792): distribution update in North Africa confirmed by COI barcoding sequencing (Coleoptera, Elmidae)

“…Sequences from French and German specimens were retrieved from the GenBank database (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/). In the dataset, data of Potamophilus kelabitensis Kodada, Boukal, Vďačný, Goffová & Ondrejková, 2022 from Sarawak and Elmis maugetii Latreille, 1802 from Slovakia were included.…”

“…has not yet been taxonomically revised and the first comprehensive diagnoses of its species were published only recently (Kodada et al 2022). The examination of morphological characters did not show diagnostic features separating the specimens from Morocco from those of Central Europe.…”

“…The genus Potamophilus Germar (1811) represents a small genus of the family Elmidae with one Palaearctic and five oriental species (Kodada et al 2022). The type species P. acuminatus (Fabricius, 1792) is described from the River Saale near Halle (Germany) and is widely distributed in the Palaearctic Region, where it has been reported in 28 countries (Jäch et al 2016).…”