Pseudohydrobius neogallicus ( Gentili, 1996 ) Gentili, 1996

Fikáček, Martin & Watts, Chris H. S., 2015, Notes on the Australian Anacaenini (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae): description of male of Phelea breviceps Hansen and unravelling the identity of Crenitis neogallica Gentili, Zootaxa 3980 (3), pp. 427-434 : 432

Pseudohydrobius neogallicus ( Gentili, 1996) comb. nov.

( Figs. 21–27 )

Crenitis neogallica Gentili, 1996: 177 .

Crenitis neogallica: Hansen (1999b: 116, catalogue) , Watts (2002: 89, comments on morphology and distribution).

Type locality. Australia, New South Wales, Miltagong Range, 2800 ft.

Type material examined. Holotype: male ( CAS): “Miltagong / Range, N. S. W. / AUSTRALIA // March, 1950 / 2800 ft elev. / C. Deuquet // California Academy / of Sciences / Type No. 17584 // Holotypus 1996 / Crenitis neogal / lica m. E. Gentili // E. Gentili det. 1996 / Crenitis / neogallica n. sp. ”.

Comments on the generic assignment. No justification of the generic assignment was provided by Gentili (1996) when describing C. neogallica , but the species was probably confusing since it was the first known member of Crenitis for Australia and its morphology (uniformly yellowish coloration and antennae with 9 antennomeres) was not matching the non-Australian members of the genus. The examination of the holotype shows clearly that the species is actually a member of the rygmodine genus Pseudohydrobius (and more specifically of the P. f l av u s Lea, 1919 complex), which is characterized by uniformly yellowish coloration (at least partly dark in Crenitis ), large protruding eyes (eyes never large and never distinctly protruding in Crenitis ), anapleural sutures strongly angulate and hence mesoventrite narrowly lambdoid anteriorly and suddenly widened posteriorly (sutures only weakly arcuate in Crenitis ), mesoventrite flat (with transverse ridge in Crenitis ), and the median lobe with basally situated gonopore (unique synapomorphy of Pseudohydrobius , gonopore usually situated subapically in most Hydrophilidae including Crenitis ). Crenitis neogallica is hence transferred to the genus Pseudohydrobius here and the genus Crenitis is removed from the Australian fauna. The genus Pseudohydrobius is currently under revision by the first author, and the species-level identity of Pseudohydrobius neogallicus comb. nov. in comparison to the remaining two described taxa of the P. f l av u s complex ( P. flavus Lea, 1919 and P. barletti Deane, 1936 ) will be solved in the course of that revision.

Figures

FIGURES 21 – 27. Holotype of Crenitis neogallica Gentili, 1996. 21 – 24: general habitus (21: dorsal view, 22: lateral view, 23: frontal view, 24: ventral view), 25: labels, 26 – 27: aedeagus (26: dorsal view, 27: ventral view). The arrow indicates the position of the gonopore.