Hydrometra argentina Berg, 1879

Mazzucconi, Silvia Ana, Reyes, Cristina Armúa De & Estévez, Ana Lía, 2022, Aquatic and semiaquatic Heteroptera (Insecta: Hemiptera) from Iberá Natural Reserve (Corrientes Province, Argentina), Zootaxa 5104 (4), pp. 451-505 : 460

Hydrometra argentina Berg, 1879

Hydrometra argentina Berg, 1879 : Hemipt. Argentina, 182.

Material examined. Laguna Iberá RS: 1 ♀, Iberá Lagoon , sample 1, 2.xii.2012 ; 1 ♀, Iberá Lagoon , sample 2, 2.xii.2012 . San Nicolás RS: 1 ♀, Carambola Stream , 28°10.108’S, 57°25.787’W, 14.xii.2013 . Yahaveré RS: 4 ♀, Concepción de Yaguareté Corá, house for researchers, swimming pool, 28°23’25.7”S, 57°53’15.9”W, 8.xi.2015 . On the road to Itatí RS : 2 ♂, Mercedes Department, Pay Ubre Grande Stream , Provincial Route 29, 25 km NW Mercedes, 25.ix.2003 .

General distribution. Panama, the Lesser Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay ( Moreira et al. 2011b; Cianferoni & Buzzetti 2012).

Habitat. Hydrometra argentina lives in a variety of aquatic habitats. This species is found on shallow waters among floating, emergent, or submerged vegetation in the margins of pools, ponds, lagoons, marshlands and swamps, in unshaded areas ( Perez Goodwyn 2001; Melo & Nieser 2004; Fernández & López Ruf 2006; Torres et al. 2007; Peralta-Argomeda & Huamantinco-Araujo 2014). It is also found along the vegetated margins of artificial channels, streams and rivers, in standing or slow-moving water ( Bachmann 1965; Fernández & López Ruf 2006; Pelli et al. 2006; Torres et al. 2007; Rodrigues et al. 2021b), in ditches in rice fields ( Hynes 1948; Nieser & Alkins-Koo 1991), in artificial reservoirs ( Neri et al. 2005), and in urban temporary pools and lagoons without aquatic vegetation ( Fontanarrosa et al. 2004). This species has also been taken at lights ( White 1879a; Dellapé & Carpintero 2012).

At the INR, H. argentina was collected from the margins of the Iberá Lagoon in shallow waters with emergent and floating vegetation (Estévez et al. 2003). During the present study, this species was collected in standing water along the vegetated margins of Carambola Stream in northern Iberá, in unshaded places, and in standing or slowmoving water along the margins without aquatic vegetation of Pay Ubre Grande Stream in southern Iberá, in shaded places. This species was also collected from the vegetated margins of Iberá Lagoon and in a swimming pool in Concepción de Yaguareté Corá.