Mesovelia mulsanti White, 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 : 458

Mesovelia mulsanti White, 1879

Mesovelia mulsanti White, 1879a : Trans. Ent. Soc. London, 268–269.

Material examined. Galarza RS: 1 ♂, Yacaré Stream , 16.iv.2013 . Itatí RS: 2 ♂, Corriente River , 26.ix.2003 ; 1 ♂, Estancia El Dorado , artificial pond, 28°45.60’S, 58°7.23’W, 28.iii.2014 ; 1 ♂, Itatí Lagoon , 28°42.09’S, 58°6.92’W, 28.iii.2014 . Laguna Iberá RS : 1 ♂, 2 ♀, Colonia Carlos Pellegrini , light trap, 2.xii.2012 ; 2 ♂, 2 ♀, artificial channel, 16.ii.2018. San Nicolás RS : 1 ♀, Carambola Stream , 28°12.302’S, 57°26.300’W, 13.xii.2013 ; 1 ♂, 2 ♀, Carambola Stream , 28°11.871’S, 57°26.292’W, 13.xii.2013 ; 1 ♀, Carambola Stream , 28°11.523’S, 57°26.426’W, 13.xii.2013 ; 2 ♂, 2 ♀, Carambola Stream , 28°10.866’S, 57°26.224’W, 14.xii.2013 . Yahaveré RS: 6 ♂, 5 ♀, Medina Lagoon , 28°33’52.6”S, 57°45’28.7”W, 7.xi.2015 . On the road to Itatí RS : 1 ♀, Mercedes Department, Pay Ubre Chico Stream , Provincial Route 29, 28.iii.2014 .

General distribution. Hawaiian Islands (introduced), Canada, USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, the Greater Antilles, the Lesser Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina ( Damgaard et al. 2012; Motta et al. 2018).

Habitat. Mesovelia mulsanti is found in a wide range of aquatic habitats. It is usually associated with emergent or floating vegetation in standing water (ponds, lakes, lagoons, swamps, bogs, marshlands, puddles, ditches, artificial pools and dams) in unshaded areas ( Herring 1950; Neering 1954; Cobben 1960; Polhemus & Chapman 1979; Rodrigues et al. 2021a, b). It has also been recorded from lotic habitats (creeks, streams and rivers) in standing or slow-moving water, sometimes on top of hydrophytes ( Usinger 1942; Cobben 1960; Polhemus & Chapman 1979; Souza et al. 2006; Torres et al. 2007), in a pond at a waterfall base ( Franco et al. 2020), from brackish waters in the Lesser Antilles ( Cobben 1960), and from saline waters around mangroves in Panama ( Polhemus & Chapman 1979).

At the INR, specimens were collected in association with Typha sp. , Ludwigia peploides (Kunth) P.H. Raven , Salvinia biloba Raddi and Pontederia azurea Sw. ( Poi de Neiff 2003) and from the margins of the Iberá Lagoon in shallow waters with emergent and floating vegetation (Estévez et al. 2003). During the present study, it was collected from margins with dense floating, emergent and submerged vegetation (mainly Cabomba caroliniana A. Gray , P. azurea , Myriophyllum aquaticum (Vell.) Verdc. , Nymphoides indica (L.) Kuntze, and S. biloba ) and organic debris in lentic habitats (Iberá Lagoon, Medina Lagoon, Itatí Lagoon and ponds) and lotic habitats (Corriente River, Yacaré Stream, Carambola Stream, Pay Ubre Chico Stream and artificial channels), mostly in open, unshaded areas. In particular, some specimens were found on floating leaves of N. indica in Itatí Lagoon. Three specimens were also taken at lights in Colonia Carlos Pellegrini.