Abstract
A second species of the enigmatic hydrophilid genus Protistolophus Short, 2010 is described from the Cordillera Escalera in northwest Peru (Departamento de San Martín). Most specimens were collected in association with brooklets in primary forest at ca. 1300 m a.s.l.
Some of the characters originally used to define the genus Protistolophus appear no longer valid after discovery of the new species. Most noteworthy is probably the absence of an apical emargination of the fifth visible ventrite, while present in P. spangleri Short, 2010, the only other know species of the genus.
References
- Lompe, A. (1989) Ein bewährtes Einbettungsmittel für Insektenpräparate. Die Käfer Mitteleuropas, 12, 17–18.
- Short, A.E.Z. (2010) Phylogeny, evolution and classification of the giant water scavenger beetles (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae: Hydrophilini: Hydrophilina). Systematics and Biodiversity, 8, 17–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000903529375
- Short, A.E.Z., Santana, L., Benetti, C.J. & Hamada, N. (2020) Rediscovery of the Neotropical water scavenger beetle Protistolophus spangleri Short with notes on its habitat and behavior (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae: Hydrophilinae). Zootaxa, 4759 (1), 139–142. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4759.1.10