Helochares championi Sharp, 1882: 75 Helochares ( Hydrobaticus ) championi Sharp Balfour-Browne 1939: 293 Review of the Helochares (Hydrobaticus) MacLeay of the New World (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae: Acidocerinae) Short, Andrew Edward Z. Girón, Jennifer C. Zootaxa 2018 2018-04-09 4407 1 29 50 3KGWC Sharp, 1882 Sharp 1882 [151,772,1124,1150] Insecta Hydrophilidae Helochares Animalia Coleoptera 5 34 Arthropoda species championi Hydrobaticus   Figs. 2B, 5G, 7K, 10B.      Helochares championi Sharp, 1882: 75.    Helochares( Hydrobaticus) championiSharp;  Balfour-Browne 1939: 293.   Type material examined.  Lectotypemale: “ Helochares/ championi/ D. S./ S. Geronimo/ Guatemala” [on same card as specimen], “Co-Type” [yellow disc], “San Geronimo/ Vera Paz./ Champion”, “Sharp Coll./ 1905.-313.”, “ B. C. A. Col.I. 2./ Helochares/ championi,/ Sharp”, “ LECTOTYPE/ Helochares/ championi/ Sharp, 1882/ des. A. Short2004” ( BMNH).   Paralectotypes(16): GUATEMALA:same locality as lectotype (4, BMNH);  Guatemala City(10, BMNH);  Duenas(1, BMNH).   NICARAGUA: Chontales(1, BMNH).  Additional material examined (79):   COSTA RICA: Cartago Province: Tapanti National Park, 9°45'55.2594"N, 83°47'37.7376"W,  1237m, side pools of Rio Orosi,  1237 m,  17.iii.2010, leg. Short& Gustafson, CR10-0317-SG2 (5, SEMC, INBio; includes DNA voucher SLE1174);  Tapanti National Park, oropendola trail, trail head,  1250 m,  17.vii.2011, in ditch, leg. A.E.Z. Short, CR11-0717-02C (2, SEMC, INBio).   Puntarenas Province: Las Cruces Biological Station, 3800’ elev. (=  1158 m),  19.vi.2003, A.E.Z. Short(1, INBio).  GUATEMALA: 10 mi.E  Guatemala City,  8.viii.1965, leg. P.J. Spangler(30, USNM, SEMC); 20 mi.NW  Chimaltenango,  20.viii.2965, leg. P.J. Spangler(6: USNM);  Vista Hermosa,  24.vi.1966, leg. Flint& Ortiz(29: USNM, SEMC);  Totonicapan, San. Christobal T.,  13.vi.1966, leg. Flint(1, USNM).   Differential diagnosis.Body size 5.8–6.4 mm. Clypeus entirely pale yellow ( Fig. 5G). Ground punctation on head and elytra fine. Elytra without any detectable serial punctures or striae ( Fig. 2B). Abdominal ventrites uniformly dark brown; pubescence dense and evenly distributed, the longest hairs shorter than those on the metaventrite. Aedeagus ( Fig. 7K) 2.8-times longer than its greatest width; apex of parameres narrow and oblique, with outer corners weakly rounded; inner corners of apex of parameres forming a nearly right angle; lateral outer margins of parameres nearly parallel, weakly rounded along apical half; median lobe with apex broadly rounded. The complete lack of elytral serial punctures or striae easily separate this species from all other New World  Hydrobaticusexcept  H. laevisand  H. politus. It can be distinguished from those species by its uniformly pale colored clypeus (darkened medially in  H. politus) and its distinctive aedeagus ( Fig. 7K).   Distribution.Currently known from scattered localities as far south as Costa Ricaand as far north as Guatemala( Fig. 10B).   Biology.In Costa Rica, most series have been collected from muddy pools with abundant vegetation in the floodplain of a river and also in a nearby roadside ditch. The specimen from Las Cruces Costa Ricawas collected in an open, forested stock water tank on the grounds of Las Cruces Biological Station. All recent collections of this species have been at a relatively high elevation of ~ 1150–2200 m. This species has been observed to carry its egg case.   Remarks.In assigning this species to the subgenus  Hydrobaticus, Balfour-Browne (1939: p. 293)commented that  H. championipossesses “ten longitudinal series of punctures on the elytra, which are not mentioned by Sharp”, and that “These longitudinal series are very weakly impressed and composed of punctures scarcely larger than the interstitial punctation.” Examination of the typeseries as well as dozens of additional specimens show that the species lacks any distinct elytral series, in agreement with Sharp’s original description. 2608702122 BMNH S. Geronimo & B. C. A. Col. & A. Short Guatemala 5 34 2 Guatemala lectotype 2608702023 [415,1302,1436,1461] BMNH S. Geronimo & B. C. A. Col. & A. Short Guatemala Guatemala 5 34 1 Guatemala paralectotype 2608702036 BMNH Guatemala Guatemala City 5 34 1 Guatemala paralectotype 2608702006 [365,591,1472,1496] BMNH Guatemala Duenas 5 34 1 paralectotype 2608700971 [601,1045,1471,1496] BMNH Nicaragua Chontales 5 34 1 Chontales paralectotype 2608700988 2010-03-17 SEMC, INBio Short & Gustafson, CR Costa Rica 1237 9.765349 Rio Orosi 1 -83.793816 Tapanti National Park 5 34 1 Cartago 2608700978 2011-07-17 SEMC, INBio A. E. Z. Short Costa Rica 1250 Tapanti National Park 5 34 1 Cartago Province 2608700976 2003-06-19 INBio Short Costa Rica 1158 Las Cruces Biological Station 5 34 1 Puntarenas 2608700977 [476,1282,1687,1712] 1965-08-08 USNM, SEMC P. J. Spangler Guatemala Guatemala City 5 34 1 Guatemala 2608700981 [151,837,1724,1749] 2965-08-20 USNM P. J. Spangler Guatemala Chimaltenango 5 34 1 Chimaltenango 2608700989 1966-06-24 USNM, SEMC Flint & Ortiz Guatemala Vista Hermosa 5 34 1 Chimaltenango 2608702152 [346,1087,1759,1784] 1966-06-13 USNM San. Christobal T. & Flint Guatemala Totonicapan 5 34 1 Totonicapan