Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5424 No. 3: 14 Mar. 2024
Type: Article
Published: 2024-03-14
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5424.3.7
Page range: 383-388
Abstract views: 73
PDF downloaded: 8

A distinctive new species of Protozantaena Perkins, 1997 from lowland Namaqualand, South Africa (Coleoptera, Hydraenidae)

School of Biological and Marine Sciences; University of Plymouth; Drake Circus; Plymouth PL4 8AA; UK; Department of Zoology; University of Johannesburg; PO Box 524; Auckland Park; Johannesburg 2006; South Africa
Department of Freshwater Invertebrates; Albany Museum; and Department of Zoology and Entomology; Rhodes University; Grahamstown 6140; South Africa
Coleoptera Aquatic Coleoptera Hydraenidae Parhydraenini new species South Africa

Abstract

Protozantaena gigantea sp. nov. is described, based on specimens collected from residual pools in a drying seasonal river in Namaqualand, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. Morphologically, the new species appears to be related to P. labrata Perkins, 1997 from Namibia and P. birdi Bilton, 2022, from the Great Escarpment in the Eastern Cape Province. At up to 2.0 mm in body length, the new species, whilst small, is by far the largest African Protozantaena Perkins, 1997 known to date. The opportunity is also taken to report a new record for P. birdi in the Eastern Cape Drakensberg.

 

References

  1. Bilton, D.T. (2013a) Crenitis bicolor sp. n. from the Kamiesberg of South Africa (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae). Zootaxa, 3626 (4), 589–592. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3626.4.13
  2. Bilton, D.T. (2013b) A taxonomic revision of South African Sharphydrus, with the description of two new species (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Bidessini). Zootaxa, 3750 (1), 26–36. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3750.1.2
  3. Bilton, D.T. (2015) A review of the Canthyporus exilis group, with the description of two new species (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae). Zootaxa, 3597 (4), 441–454. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3957.4.5
  4. Bilton, D.T. (2016) Two new water beetles from the South African Cape (Coleoptera, Hydraenidae). Zootaxa, 4137 (4), 585–591. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4137.4.11
  5. Bilton, D.T. (2017) Water beetles from the Bokkeveld Plateau: a semi-arid hotspot of freshwater biodiversity in the Northern Cape of South Africa. Zootaxa, 4268 (2), 191–214. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4268.2.2
  6. Bilton, D.T. (2021) Riberazantaena, a new hydraenid genus from the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania (Coleoptera, Hydraenidae). Zootaxa, 4999 (6), 573–581. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4999.6.4
  7. Bilton, D.T. (2022) A new species of Protozantaena Perkins, 1997 from the Great Escarpment of South Africa (Coleoptera, Hydraenidae). Zootaxa, 5125 (1), 92–96. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5125.1.6
  8. Bilton, D.T., Jäch, M.A., Ribera, I. & Toussaint, E.F.A. (2023) Minute moss beetles in the Southern Hemisphere: Molecular phylogeny, historical biogeography and habitat shifts (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae). Systematic Entomology, 48, 142–162. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12567
  9. Bilton, D.T. & Mlambo, M.C. (2023) A revision of Delevea Reichardt, 1976: a Southern African endemic water beetle genus including the largest known extant myxophagans (Coleoptera: Myxophaga: Torridincolidae). Zootaxa, 5285 (2), 311–324. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5285.2.5
  10. Clark, V.R., Barker, N.P. & Mucina, L. (2011) The Great Escarpment of southern Africa: a new frontier for biodiversity exploration. Biodiversity and Conservation, 20, 2543–2561. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-011-0103-3
  11. Perkins, P.D. (1997) Life on the effective bubble: exocrine secretion delivery systems (ESDS) and the evolution and classification of beetles in the family Hydraenidae (Insecta: Coleoptera). Annals of Carnegie Museum, 66, 89–207. https://doi.org/10.5962/p.215139
  12. Perkins, P.D. (2009) Revisions of the genera Parhydraena Orchymont, Protozantaena Perkins, Decarthrocerus Orchymont, and Parhydraenopsis nomen novum, aquatic and humicolous beetles from Africa and Madagascar, and comparative morphology of the tribe Parhydraenini (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae). Zootaxa, 2038 (1), 1–119. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.2038.1.1
  13. Perkins, P.D. (2017) Hydraenidae of Madagascar (Insecta: Coleoptera). Zootaxa, 4342 (1) 1–264. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4342.1.1
  14. Riedel, A. (2005) Digital imaging of beetles (Coleoptera), and other three-dimensional insects. In: Häuser, C., Steiner, A., Holstein, J. & Scoble, M.J. (Eds.), Digital Imaging of Biological Type Specimens. A Manual of Best Practice. Results from a study of the European Network for Biodiversity Information, Stuttgart, pp. 222–250.