Gerris (Gerris) costae sahlbergi Distant, 1879

Cianferoni, Fabio, Saleem, Rukhshanda, Afsheen, Sumera & Zia, Ahmed, 2021, The water striders of Pakistan (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerridae): new records from Punjab and first checklist for the country, Zootaxa 4996 (3), pp. 469-491 : 480-481

Gerris (Gerris) costae sahlbergi Distant, 1879

Gerris sahlbergi Distant 1879: 125 .

Gerris costai mongoliensis Lansbury 1966: 211 . Syn. Kanyukova 1982: 82.

Material examined. INDIA. Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir division . Undefined district: Frisland , 8000 ft. [ca. 2440 m a.s.l.], 22. V . –9. VI .1952, 1 ♀ macr., leg. F.A. Kincl, det. F. Cianferoni 2020 ( CFC); idem , 23 ♂, 31 ♀ macr., idem, det. P. Kment 2021 ( NMPC); idem , 2 ♂, 2 ♀ macr., idem ( CFC) .

General distribution. This species is known from from Afghanistan, India (Kashmir), Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and Russia (Siberia).

Remarks. The status and interpretation of the subspecies of G. costae (Herrich-Schäffer, 1850) are questionable (see e.g. Cianferoni 2019) because the diagnostic characters are ambiguous (see Cianferoni 2011 and Berchi et al. 2018 for further information). Also, since this subspecific taxon is not well-supported with molecular data (see e.g., Damgaard 2006), it could fall within the variability of the species, due to geographical variations of the populations. However, more research is needed to resolve this question. It is likely that this taxon could occur also in Pakistan (Azad Kashmir) and other regions in the northern part of the country.