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Revista de la Sociedad Entomológica Argentina

Print version ISSN 0373-5680On-line version ISSN 1851-7471

Rev. Soc. Entomol. Argent. vol.74 no.3-4 La Plata Dec. 2015

 

TRABAJO CIENTÍFICO

Aquatic Coleoptera from El Cristal Natural Reserve (Santa Fe Province, Argentina)

Los coleópteros acuáticos de la Reserva Natural El Cristal (Provincia de Santa Fe, Argentina)

 

Macchia, Gabriel A.1, María L. Libonatti1, 2, Mariano C. Michat1, 2 & Patricia L. M. Torres1, 2

1Laboratorio de Entomología, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. E-mail: patricialmtorres@yahoo.com.ar
2IBBEA, CONICET-UBA, Argentina

Recibido: 26-III-2015
Aceptado: 14-VI-2015

 


RESUMEN. Se presenta una lista de los coleópteros acuáticos colectados en la Reserva Natural El Cristal. Se identificaron 77 especies incluidas en 35 géneros y seis familias. Diez géneros se citan por primera vez de la provincia de Santa Fe: Copelatus Erichson, Anodocheilus Babington, Bidessodes Régimbart, Bidessonotus Régimbart, Pachydrus Sharp, Laccomimus Toledo & Michat (Dytiscidae), Mesonoterus Sharp (Noteridae), Pelonomus Erichson (Dryopidae), Chaetarthria Stephens y Paracymus Thomson (Hydrophilidae). Además, 17 especies se registran por primera vez de la provincia de Santa Fe: Thermonectus succinctus (Aubé), Anodocheilus maculatus Babington, Bidessonotus obtusatus Régimbart, Pachydrus globosus (Aubé), P. obesus Sharp (Dytiscidae), Hydrocanthus paraguayensis Zimmermann, Mesonoterus laevicollis Sharp, Suphis freudei Mouchamps, Suphisellus curtus (Sharp), S. grammicus (Sharp), S. nigrinus (Aubé), S. remator (Sharp) (Noteridae), Chaetarthria bruchi Balfour-Browne, Enochrus sublongus (Fall), Berosus paraguayanus Knisch, Derallus altus (Leconte) y Phaenonotum regimbarti Bruch (Hydrophilidae).

PALABRAS CLAVE: Coleópteros acuáticos; Inventario; Chaco Húmedo; Biodiversidad; Región Neotropical

ABSTRACT. A list of the aquatic Coleoptera collected in El Cristal Natural Reserve is presented. Seventy-seven species included in 35 genera and six families were recorded. Ten genera are first cited from Santa Fe Province: Copelatus Erichson, Anodocheilus Babington, Bidessodes Régimbart, Bidessonotus Régimbart, Pachydrus Sharp, Laccomimus Toledo & Michat (Dytiscidae), Mesonoterus Sharp (Noteridae), Pelonomus Erichson (Dryopidae), Chaetarthria Stephens and Paracymus Thomson (Hydrophilidae). In addition, 17 species are recorded for the first time from Santa Fe Province: Thermonectus succinctus (Aubé), Anodocheilus maculatus Babington, Bidessonotus obtusatus Régimbart, Pachydrus globosus (Aubé), P. obesus Sharp (Dytiscidae), Hydrocanthus paraguayensis Zimmermann, Mesonoterus laevicollis Sharp, Suphis freudei Mouchamps, Suphisellus curtus (Sharp), S. grammicus (Sharp), S. nigrinus (Aubé), S. remator (Sharp) (Noteridae), Chaetarthria bruchi Balfour-Browne, Enochrus sublongus (Fall), Berosus paraguayanus Knisch, Derallus altus (Leconte) and Phaenonotum regimbarti Bruch (Hydrophilidae).

KEY WORDS: Aquatic Coleoptera; Inventory; Humid Chaco; Biodiversity; Neotropical Region


 

INTRODUCTION

The Humid Chaco, one of the 18 eco-regions of Argentina, covers 16 million ha in the eastern part of Chaco and Formosa Provinces and in the northern part of Santa Fe Province (Burkart et al., 1999; Brown et al., 2012). In the last decades, Santa Fe Province has experienced high levels of deforestation, including the highest deforestation rate in the country, which led to the loss of 96% of its native forests (Brown et al., 2012). Hopefully, small patches of the still unperturbed forests of the province are protected, including 11 areas preserving the Humid Chaco.

Several studies dealing with the macroinvertebrates associated to aquatic macrophytes in Humid Chaco were presented in the past (Neiff & Poi de Neiff, 1978; Poi de Neiff, 1983; Poi de Neiff & Neiff, 1984). These contributions had an ecological approach and were not focused on aquatic Coleoptera. Recently, Libonatti et al. (2013) presented the first comprehensive inventory of aquatic Coleoptera of Humid Chaco, based on two protected areas located in Chaco Province. On the other hand, the aquatic beetle fauna of Santa Fe Province has received some attention in the past recent years (Montalto, 2008; Zilli et al., 2008), however, these approaches were mainly ecological and no comprehensive inventories of aquatic Coleoptera were presented.

In the present paper, we provide the first inventory of the species of aquatic Coleoptera inhabiting El Cristal Natural Reserve, a protected area preserving a pristine remnant of the Humid Chaco eco-region of Santa Fe Province.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Study area

El Cristal is a small wildlife natural reserve located in the northern part of Santa Fe Province, in the department of Vera, municipality of Calchaquí (30° 01’ 05.2" S, 60° 06’ 16.6" W) (Fig. 1). It was created in 1992 and covers 15 ha. This protected area preserves the shore of a pond called El Cristal and a representative part of the southeastern forests of the Humid Chaco eco-region (Chebez, 2005).


Fig. 1. Study area: El Cristal pond in Calchaquí municipality (Santa Fe Province).

Sampling

Specimens were collected on 5-8 December 2010 using mercury light traps, fixed in situ in Fe Province: Copelatus Erichson, Anodocheilus Babington, Bidessodes Régimbart, Bidessonotus Régimbart, Pachydrus Sharp, Laccomimus Toledo & Michat (Dytiscidae), Mesonoterus Sharp (Noteridae), Pelonomus Erichson (Dryopidae), Chaetarthria Stephens and Paracymus Thomson (Hydrophilidae). Also, 17 species are recorded for the first time from Santa Fe Province: Thermonectus succinctus (Aubé), Anodocheilus maculatus Babington, Bidessonotus obtusatus Régimbart, Pachydrus globosus (Aubé), P . obesus Sharp (Dytiscidae), Hydrocanthus paraguayensis Zimmermann, Mesonoterus laevicollis Sharp, Suphis freudei Mouchamps, Suphisellus curtus (Sharp), S. grammicus (Sharp), S. nigrinus (Aubé), S. remator (Sharp) (Noteridae), Chaetarthria bruchi Balfour-Browne, Enochrus sublongus (Fall), Berosus paraguayanus Knisch, Derallus altus (Leconte) and Phaenonotum regimbarti Bruch (Hydrophilidae).

DISCUSSION

Suborder Adephaga

Family Dytiscidae

The family is presently represented in Argentina by 119 species, distributed in 31 genera and eight subfamilies (Libonatti et al., 2011). In El Cristal Natural Reserve four subfamilies, 16 genera and 25 species were found (Table I). The subfamily Copelatinae, represented by two unidentified species, is reported for the first time from Santa Fe Province. The genus Copelatus had already been cited from Buenos Aires, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Misiones, Chaco, Salta and Jujuy Provinces (Trémouilles, 1998; Torres et al., 2008). Dysticinae was represented in this study by three species, of which Thermonectus succinctus (Aubé) (Aciliini) is herein recorded for the first time from Santa Fe. Hydroporinae was represented by 10 genera. Four genera and four species are newly recorded from Santa Fe: Anodocheilus maculatus Babington, Bidessonotus obtusatus Régimbart, Pachydrus globosus (Aubé), P. obesus Sharp, and an unidentified species of Bidessodes recently found in Corrientes and Entre Ríos Provinces (Libonatti et al., 2011; Torres et al., 2012). We found two genera of Laccophilinae in the present study, one of which (Laccomimus Toledo & Michat) is first recorded from Santa Fe. It had been previously cited, as "Laccophilinae, unpublished genus", from Entre Ríos, Corrientes and Chaco Provinces by Libonatti et al. (2011).

Table I. Aquatic Coleoptera collected in El Cristal Natural Reserve. New records from Santa Fe Province are denoted by asterisks.



Family Noteridae

The noterid fauna of Argentina is composed of about 40 species classified in two subfamilies (Noterinae and Notomicrinae) and six genera (Nilsson, 2011). In El Cristal Natural Reserve we found four genera of Noterinae and one genus of Notomicrinae (Table I). The genus Mesonoterus Sharp and the following seven species are reported for the first time from Santa Fe Province: Mesonoterus laevicollis Sharp, distributed in Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, and recently found in Argentina (Torres et al., 2012); Hydrocanthus paraguayensis Zimmermann known from Buenos Aires and Corrientes; Suphis freudei Mouchamps, previously recorded in Buenos Aires and Chaco (Grosso, 1993); Suphisellus curtus (Sharp), so far only recorded from Corrientes (Torres et al., 2012); S. grammicus (Sharp) formerly known from Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos, Misiones, Chaco and Tucumán; S. nigrinus (Aubé) with previous records from Buenos Aires, Corrientes, Misiones, Córdoba, Chaco and Tucumán (Torres et al., 2012); and S. rematar (Sharp), distributed in the central-northern part of the country (Regimbart, 1903; Bruch, 1915)

Suborder Polyphaga

Family Dryopidae

Four genera of this family are known to occur in Argentina: Dryops Olivier, Helichus Erichson, Onopelmus Spangler, and Pelonomus Erichson (Trémouilles et al., 1995). Pelonomus, currently represented by three Argentinean species (P. bergi Grouvelle, P. pubescens (Blanchard) and P. simp/ex Berg) and distributed in central and northern parts of the country (Torres et al., 2007), is herein cited for the first time from Santa Fe (Table I)

Family Hydrochidae

This family contains solely the cosmopolitan genus Hydrochus, represented by ca. 180 species worldwide, 17 of which are found in Argentina (Oliva et al., 2002). In the present study five species were identified, all previously known from Santa Fe

Family Hydrophilidae

The Hydrophilidae include almost 150 species in Argentina, distributed in 20 genera and six subfamilies (Oliva et al., 2002; Short & Fikáček, 2013). In our study, two species of Acidocerinae, one of Chaetarthrünae, two of Enochrinae, 23 of Hydrophilinae and three of Sphaeridünae were identified (Table I). Chaetarthrünae is divided in two tribes: Anacaenini, with only the genus Anacaena Thomson (Oliva et al., 2002), and Chaetarthriini with six Argentinean species in the genus Chaetarthria. We found Chaetarthria bruchi Balfour-Browne, early known from Tucumán, Córdoba and La Rioja (Oliva et al., 2002), so it is the first record for the genus and species from Santa Fe. The genus Enochrus Thomson is the only member of the subfamily Enochrinae present in Argentina, widely distributed throughout the country. Enochrus sublongus (Fall), previously known from Chaco, Formosa and Corrientes (Torres et al., 2012), was collected in our samplings and is here cited for the first time from Santa Fe. The subfamily Hydrophilinae was represented in this study by three tribes: Berosini, Hydrophilini and Laccobiini. Berosini included two out of three genera known from Argentina: Berosus and Derallus. Berosus paraguayanus Knisch, known from Northern Argentina, and Derallus altus (Leconte), previously to this study only recorded from Salta, are first cited from Santa Fe. We found six species in three genera of the tribe Hydrophilini: Hydrobiomorpha Blackburn, Tropisternus Solier and Hydrophilus Geoffroy, all previously recorded from Santa Fe. The tribe Laccobiini is represented in Argentina by two genera: Oocyclus Sharp, with a single species (O. schubarti Orchymont) cited from Misiones, and Paracymus Thomson, with four species (P. graniformis Bruch, P. phalacroides Wollaston, P. rufocinctus Bruch and P. sedatus Wooldridge) distributed in the central and northern parts of the country (Short & Fikácek, 2013). The latter genus is herein cited for the first time from Santa Fe. Two tribes of the subfamily Sphaeridiinae are present in Argentina: Megasternini and Coelostomatini. Phaenonotum regimbarti Bruch (Coelostomatini), recorded from Buenos Aires, Chaco and Formosa by Archangelsky (1990, 1992) is herein cited for the first time from Santa Fe.

Family Scirtidae

The family comprises 22 species in Argentina, classified in one subfamily (Scirtinae) and five genera (Contacyphon Gozis, Ora Clark, Prionocyphon Redtenbacher, Pseudomicrocara Armstrong and Scirtes Illiger) (Klausnitzer, 2012; Libonatti & Ruta, 2013; Libonatti, 2014, 2015). We found Ora semibrunnea Pic in our samplings, which was recently recorded from Santa Fe (Libonatti, 2015).

CONCLUSIONS

Although limited both geographically and in sampling effort, this study proves that El Cristal Natural Reserve hosts a vast diversity of aquatic Coleoptera representative of the Humid Chaco eco-region. Several species are cited for the first time from Santa Fe Province, and some remain unidentified which highlights the potential of the area as a source of novel information. Our results reinforce the idea advanced by TNC (2005) of considering the Humid Chaco as a priority area for conservation purposes, and may encourage specialists to further investigate the aquatic beetles and other insect groups inhabiting the region.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study was partially funded by projects PIP 112–201101–01087 from CONICET and PICT-2014-0135 from ANPCyT. M. L. Libonatti was also supported by a postgraduate scholar-ship from CONICET.

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