Hydroporus queneyi sp. n. from southern France, a new semi-subterranean diving beetle of the Hydroporus normandi-complex (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae, Hydroporini)

Abstract

Hydroporus queneyi sp. n. is described from the area of Montpellier in southern France. It is a member of the Hydroporus normandi-complex (within the H. memnonius-group) and shares with other species of the complex the typical suite of morphological features associated with a semi-subterranean ecology. The new species differs from all previously known species of the complex by the antennomeres V–XI distinctly darkened, and by a diagnostic combination of features notably of the habitus, surface sculpture and pubescence, aspect of the metacoxal lines and posterior wing venation. Its morphology is compared with that of related species, as well as described and illustrated. Collecting circumstances for the new species are described and an updated map of the distribution of H. normandi-complex species is provided. Newly produced partial sequences of the mitochondrial marker CO1 from specimens of H. queneyi sp. n., H. galloprovincialis Manuel, 2013 and two subspecies of H. normandi Régimbart, 1903 were analysed together with publicly available sequences. In the resulting CO1 tree, haplotypes from the respective morphospecies are well separated within the H. normandi-complex, and H. queneyi sp. n. is positioned closer to the Balearic Islands endemic H. lluci Fery, 1999 than to its continental relatives H. galloprovincialis and H. normandi.