Rhagovelia Mayr, 1865

Fent, Meral, Kment, Petr, Çamur-Elipek, Belgin & Kirgiz, Timur, 2011, Annotated catalogue of Enicocephalomorpha, Dipsocoromorpha, Nepomorpha, Gerromorpha, and Leptopodomorpha (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) of Turkey, with new records 2856, Zootaxa 2856 (1), pp. 1-84 : 39

Rhagovelia Mayr, 1865

Subgenus Rhagovelia s. str.

Rhagovelia (Rhagovelia) cf. nigricans nigricans (Burmeister, 1835)

Asian Turkey. Seidenstücker (1957).

Turkey (not distinguished). Kıyak & Özsaraç (2001).

General distribution. Andersen (1995) listed R. nigricans from Cyprus, Israel,? Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Afrotropical Region. He further noted that older records of R. nigricans from the East Palaearctic and Oriental Region most certainly apply to other species. It was further recorded from Spain ( Baena et al. 1994), Anatolia ( Seidenstücker 1957), Jordan ( Katbeh et al. 2000), and Lebanon ( Nieser & Moubayed 1985). On the other hand, the records from Tunisia may belong to the later described R. tozeur Baena, Nieser & Gallardo, 1997 . However, Nieser (1995) reported another species, R. infernalis africana Lundblad, 1936 , from Israel. Recently we send the voucher specimens of R. nigricans from Greece (Rhodes), Cyprus, and Israel ( Hoberlandt 1952b) deposited in NMPC to Nico Nieser for revision. In his opinion, all the specimens belong to R. infernalis africana , although series with only females are not reliably identifiable ( Greece: Rhodes, 3 ♀♀ only).

Comments. Seidenstücker (1957) recorded R. nigricans from İskenderun (Hatay province). This record was apparently overlooked by all subsequent authors until Kıyak & Özsaraç (2001). Based on new information on the occurrence of R. infernalis africana in the Near East, we accept the occurrence of the genus Rhagovelia in Anatolia; but it is necessary to re-examine Seidenstücker’s specimens to see if they belong really to R. nigricans or R. infernalis africana . Rhagovelia species are specialists in permanent running waters ( Baena et al. 1994).

Identification. Lundblad (1936) ( R. nigricans , R. infernalis var. africana ); Nieser et al. (1994) ( R. nigricans ), Baena et al. (1994) ( R. nigricans and R. tozeur ). Reliable identification of females is not possible ( Lundblad 1936; N. Nieser, pers. comm.).