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Issue: Vol. 3 No. 1: 30 Jan. 2026
Type: Article
Published: 2026-01-30
DOI: 10.11646/jihs.3.1.2
Page range: 85-103
Abstract views: 975
PDF downloaded: 311

New Species and New Distributional Records of the Genus Microvelia Westwood (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Veliidae) from the Japanese Ogasawara Islands, with an Illustrated Key to Ogasawaran Species

NIDEK Co., Ltd., Gamagôri, Aichi, Japan
Ogasawara Division of Japan Wildlife Research Center, Ogasawara, Tokyo, Japan; Systematic Zoology Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan
Ishikawa Insect Museum, Hakusan, Ishikawa, Japan
broad-shouldered water striders Gerromorpha Microveliinae oceanic islands semiaquatic bugs small water striders taxonomy

Abstract

Microvelia (Pacificovelia) amphitrite new species is described from the Japanese Ogasawara Islands. In addition, some specimens identified as M. douglasi Scott, 1874 and previously reported by different authors from the Ogasawara Islands were examined and recognized as misidentifications actually belonging to M. yoshitomii Watanabe, 2023 and the new species herein described. These results indicate that M. douglasi is not distributed in the Ogasawara Islands. In addition, M. yoshitomii is herein reported for the first time from nine islands in the archipelago. An illustrated key to Ogasawaran Microveliinae species is provided. Field surveys revealed that two species of Microvelia in the Ogasawara Islands prey on arthropods across several taxa, more than half of which are alien species.

 

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