Cambridge Entomological Club, 1874
PSYCHE

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This is the CEC archive of Psyche through 2000. Psyche is now published by Hindawi Publishing.

F. N. Young.
Two New Species of Water Beetles from Florida (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae).
Psyche 60(1):21-27, 1953.

This article at Hindawi Publishing: https://doi.org/10.1155/1953/43082
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TWO NEW SPECIES OF WATER BEETLES
FROM FLORIDA
(COLEOPTERA : DYTISCIDAE) *
The two new species of Dytiscidae described below were encountered during the course of the writer's investigations of the species comprising the genera represented in the Florida fauna.
The new Hydrovatu is remarkable in that it is apparent- ly confined to the peninsular region of Florida and may represent an endemic form originally isolated on the Pleis- tocene Islands. Examination of the type of Hydrovatus indianensis Blatchley convinces me that it is not that species although the two are similar. The occurrence of "giant'' forms within the limits of the populations of H. pustulatus Melsheimer and compressus Sharp respectively suggests the possibility that they may represent mutant or even polyploid species.
The new Copelatus has stood on our lists for many years as C. debilis Sharp, but a comparison of Blatchley's speci- mens with true debilis indicates that the two are distinct. The form is probably not restricted to the Florida Keys, unless those islands represent the remnants of a land mass more ancient than we now suspect.
Hydrovatus peninsularis sp. nov.
DIAGNOSIS : A moderately large, dark colored Hydrovatus resembling in general H. indianensis Blatchley, but differ- ing from that species in color pattern and in punctation. From H. major Sharp or homi Crotch it differs in lacking conspicuous sulci on the sides of the elytra. From H. pstu- latus Melsheimer and compressus Sharp it differs in its *Contribution No. 513 from the Department of Zoology, Indiana University. Aided 'by a grant from the National Science Foundation and published with a grant from the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College.
Pu&e 60:21-27 (1953). hup //psyche cnlclub org/6WW02Lhtiiil



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Psyche
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larger size, different coloration, and in the structure of the male genitalia. Total length ranges from 2.9 to 3,1 mm.; greatest width from about 1.9 to 2.1 mm. Average size based on measurements of eight specimens about 2.98 by 1.96 mm. H. compressvs, the only species ao far taken in company with peninsularis, averages about 2.31 by 1.58 mm. Peninsul,aris may represent a form of indZame1WS, but that species is still so rare in collections that I have had no material available for comparison except the unique female type.
HOLOTYPE MALE: Form broadly oval, nearly hemis- pherical. Outline of body when viewed from above broadest at base of elytra, not much narrowed anteriorly, but nar- rowing posteriorly from the humeri with a slight sinuation near the middle of the elytra beyond which the elytra narrow again to the acurninate tips. Strongly convex above and below. Total length 2.92 mm. ; greatest width 1.98 mm. Width at base of pronotum 1.81 mm.; width at apex of pronotum 1.13 mm.; length of pronotum at midline 0.76 mm. Length from base of prosternal process to apex of eoxal lamina 1.43 mm. Width between eyes 0.73 mm. Head': Microreticulate with some irregularly spaced, moderately fine punctures. (Coarser punctures along inner margin of eyes and on front in usual position for genus.) Clypeus inconspicuously margined. Microsculpture of vertex with meshes regular and rather deeply impressed. Pronoturn: Microsculpture much as on head. Punetation much coarser than on head, coarse and dense along anterior and posterior margins but somewhat finer and sparser on disk and toward aides. Punctures at apex and base of pronotum with some tendency to coalesce to form vermiculate sculp- ture. Elytra: Microsculpture less deeply impressed than on either the head or the pronotum (surface appearing more strongly polished). Punctation coarser than on pro- notum and arranged in roughly regular rows or striae running from base toward apex. (Three striae of hair bearing punctures vaguely discernible on each elytron).
Apices and lateral margins of elytra less densely and more finely punctate than disk. A number of coarse punctures extending posteriorly from the 'humerua of each elytron



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19531 Young - Water Beetles 23
apparently occupy the same posititon as the sulcus seen in major and horni.
Below these punctures there is a vague
longitudinal ridge above the epipleura. Venter : Metas- ternum slightly more coarsely and irregularly punctate than the elytra. Hind coxal plates with very large punctures separated from one another by less than their own diameter and in part confluent (punctures much coarser than those of elytra; about as coarse as those of elytra in indianensis). Two basal abdominal sternites with a few coarse punctures; other sternites with mierosculpture but not conspicuously punctate (two basal abdominal sternites very coarsely and confluently punctate in indianensis). Terminal abdominal sternite mueronate but without a median ridge (with a blunt projecting ridge and not strongly pointed in the female type of indianensis) . Epipleurae with some coarse, irregularly spaced punctures. Anterior and middle tarsi: Moderately strongly dilated. Anterior protarsal claw slightly broader and 'blunter than its fellow. Genitalia: Similar to those of cowressus and pustulatus, but with the parameres more evenly rounded at the tips, and with the aedeagus with the constricted apical portion relatively longer, stouter, and less strongly curved down at the tip. Color: Head nearly uniformly reddish brown. Pronotum with disk dark reddish brown and the lateral margins lighter; base and apex somewhat darker, but no lighter cross-bar between them as in indianensis. Elytra dark red- dish brown, each with a transverse sub-basal yellowish brown spot which reaches the lighter margin at the side but does not attain the suture, a postmedian yellowish brown spot, and the apices yellowish brown. Venter red- dish brown with the metasternum and hind coxal plates darker. Color pattern similar to that of indianensis but differing in the narrower sub-basal spot and the larger postmedian spot, as well as in the lack of a light cross-bar on the pronotum.
ALLOTYPE FEMALE: Similar to the male but somewhat more regularly oval, somewhat darker in general color, the elytra less polished and with the anterior and middle tarsi less strongly expanded.
Total length 2.93 mm.; greatest
width 1.97 mm. Width at base of pronotum 1.62 mm.;



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24 Psyche
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width at apex of pronotum 1.16 mm.; length of pronotum at midline 0.76 mm. Length from base of prosternum to apex of coxal lamina 1.48 mm. Width between eyes 0.78 mm. VARIATION: Paratypes differ somewhat from the types in coloration and in the coarseness of punctation. The punctation of the pronotum in some is coarser, in others finer than in the types.
TYPE LOCALITY : Holotype and allotype from : FLORIDA : Alachua County, Lake Newman east of Gainesville, Sept. 27, 1939 F. N. Young. Paratypes from: FLORIDA : Alachua County, Bivan's Arm of Payne Prairie south of Gainesville, Feb. 1939 F. N. Young (4 ) ; Lake Wauberg near Mican- opy, Apr. 30,1938, F. N. Young (1 9 ) ; Polk County, Saddle Creek Canal, 1 mi. north of Bartow, Nov. 1, 1951 Ellis Lanquist (1 $ ) ; and Brighton (Okeechobee), June 16, 1929, P. J. Darlington Jr. (10 exs.).
LOCATION OF TYPES: Holotype, allotype and two female paratypes are in the University of Michigan, Museum of Zoology, Ann Arbor. One male paratype is in the collection of Ellis Lanquist at the Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville. One female paratype is in the col- lection of H. B. Leech at the California Academy of Sci- ences, and another in the W. S. Blatchley collection at Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana. The Brighton para- types are in the Museum of Comparative Zoology (Type No. 29,018), Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Copelatus blatchleyi sp. nov.
1919
Copelatus debilis Blatchley, not of Sharp, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. History, 41 (4) :312.
1932
Copelatus debilis Blatchley, not of Sharp, "In Days Agone . . . ," Nature Publislhing Co., Indianapolis, p. 293.
The Copelatus recorded by Blatchley from Florida (see above) represents a species resembling, but very dis- tinct from debilis Sharp as represented by specimens from Texas, Mexico, and Central America. Blatchley (1932) states that his specimens were sifted from among dead leaves about 200 yards from tidal pools near the cemetery at Key West. He surmises that the species may be a



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19531 Young - Water Beetles
25
brackish water form, but from the situation cited Watchleyi will more likely be found associated with the ephemeral rain pools which fsorm in the broadleaved evergreen jungle hammock assoeies of the Keys. It will probably also be found in the West Indies.
Fig. 1. Lateral outline of aedea.gus of holotype of Copelatus blatchleyi from Key Wesit, Fllorida. Fig.2. Lateral outline of aedeagus of Copelatus debilis from Brownsville, Texas. (Both figures drawn to same scale) Copelatus cubaensis Schaeffer (Jour. New York Ent. Soc., 16: 18, 1908) seems from the description to be very similar to blatchleyi, but is described as having a sub- marginal and six other striae on each elytron. A compari- son of the male genitalia should help to determine the re- lationships of several forms which we now place in differ- ent groups almost entirely on the number of striae on the elytra. The genitalia of debHis and blatchleyi are of a sim- ilar type radically different from those of glyphicus or chevrolati. C. chevrolati, the only other Copelatus so far taken at Key West, is easily distinguished from blatchleyi



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26 Psyche
[March
by having a submarginal and eight other striae on each elytron.
DIAGNOSIS: A small, ovate, moderately convex Copelatzis with a distinct submarginal and five other distinct striae on each elytron
(Sharp's Group 9). The structure of the
male aedeagus is diagnostic (Fig. 1) and indicates the re- lationship of the species to debilis Sharp (Fig.2). The lat- ter, however, is smaller, more elongate, less convex, less coarsely punctate, and the aedeagus differs in structure. Average length 4.63 mm.; average width at middle of elytra 2.43 mm.
HOLOTYPE MALE: Elongate oval, greatest width at about middle of elytra, moderately convex dorsally. Total length 4.73 mm.; greatest width 2.43 mm. Width at base of pro- notum 2.19 mm.; width at apex of pronotum 1.30 mm.; length of pronotum at midline 0.86 mm. Length of pro- sternal process 0.76 mm.; lengbh from apex of prosternal process to apex of coxal laminae 1.57 mm. Width between eyes 0.78 mm. Head: Microreticulate and moderately finely punctate, punctures on vertex separated by from 2 to 3 times their diameter (coarser punctures in usual position for genus). Pronoturn : Mi8croreticulation and punctation on disk about as on head; coarser punctures along anterior margin, laterally, and in two depressions near the base on either side of middle. Elytra : Microreticulation coarser and more irregular than on head and pronotum; punctures along suture and between the impressed striae coarser and denser than on head or pronotum.
Each elytron with a sub-
marginal and five other distinct, deeply impressed striae; no sutural stria; first discal stria about twice as distant from the suture as from the second stria; first and second striae a little shorter at base than outer three; second and fifth striae somewhat abbreviated toward the apex (the fifth showing a tendency to turn inward and almost join the fourth toward the apex) ; submarginal stria originating just before middle of elytra and extending a little beyond termination of the 5th discal stria. Venter: Metasternurn, coxal plates, and abdominal sternites microreticulate and with some parallel scratches, but not conspicuously punc- fate in any part. Prosternal process similar to that of



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19531 Young - Water Beetles 27
debilis, but relatively stouter and more expanded behind the anterior coxae. Anterior and middle tarsi moderately dilated ; protarsal claws simple. Anterior tibiae ~on~stricted at base as in debilis. Genitalia: Parameres similar to those of debilis. Aedeagus distinctive (see Fig. 1). Color : Head reddish brown, eyes dark. Pronotum dark reddish brown to fuscous on disk, lighter yellowish brown at anterior angles and along margins. Elytra very dark reddish brown to fuscous with a narrow, transverse yellowish brown area at base not quite reaching the suture; margins and apices diffusely lighter. Appendages and undersurface nearly uniformly reddish brown, a little darker along sutures and on abdominal sternites.
ALLOTYPE FEMALE: Similar to male except that specimen is teneral and almost uniformly light yellowish brown above and below. The specimen is in poor condition, but the structural characters are distinct. The anterior and mid- dle tibiae and tarsi are simple. Total length 4.59 mm.; greatest width 2.40 mm. Width of pronotum at base 2.11 mm.; width of pronotum at apex 1.24 mm. ; length of pro- notum at midline 0.81 mm. Length of prosternal process 0.70 mm.; length from apex of prosternal process to apex of coxal laminae 1.51 mm. Width between eyes 0.78 mm. VARIATION: The series of specimens before me is rela- tively uniform. Both of the females are teneral and lighter in color, but do not seem to differ significantly otherwise. The largest male measures 4.75 by 2.54 mm.; smallest female 4.56 by 2.38 mm.
TYPE LOCALITY: Holotype, allotype, two male and one female paratypes, all from FLORIDA: Monroe County, Key West, Mar. 3, 1919, W. S. Blatchley. (These apparently represent all but four of the specimens collected by Blatch- ley and recorded by him as debilis.)
LOCATION OF TYPES: Holotype and allotype in the W. S. Blatchley Collectcon at Purdue University. One male and one female paratype in the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Ann Arbor, Michigan. One male paratype in the Museum of Comparative Zoology (Type No. 29,019), Cambridge, Massachusetts.




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