Ochthebius (Enicocerus) benefossus LeConte

Perkins, Philip D., 2023, New Neotropical and Nearctic species of water beetles in the genera Hydraena Kugelann and Ochthebius Leach, a key to North American genera and subgenera of the family, new distribution records, and a synopsis of ecology, behavior and morphology related to aquatic life (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae), Zootaxa 5367 (1), pp. 1-86 : 73-74

Ochthebius (Enicocerus) benefossus LeConte

( Fig. 38 )

Ochthebius benefossus LeConte 1878: 381 This rarely collected species was formerly known from only 40 specimens, most of which have label data with only the state of collection, without any exact locality data or habitat data. Collecting in Massachusetts, New York and Vermont I discovered that this unusual species is hygropetric, found only in splash zones at the margins of waterfalls or on wet rocks, usually very large boulders. It is the only member of the subgenus in the New World, other species of the subgenus being found in Europe. It is also the only known strictly hygropetric Ochthebius in the New World. The known distribution is eastern North America from Quebec south to Virginia and west to Indiana.

New records (82 specimens): U.S.A.: Massachusetts, Hampden Co., Sanderson Brook , at base of Sanderson Brook Falls , (42°15’N, 72°57’W), 5.vii.2005, leg. M. E. and P. D. Perkins (20 MCZ) ; New York, Washington Co., Pumpkin Hook Creek , 4 mi. NE Cambridge on Chestnut Hill Rd., 30.vi.2003, leg. P. D. Perkins (4 MCZ) ; Vermont, Bennington Co., City Stream , 1 km S Woodford, (42°52’N, 73°4’W), 3.ix.2001, leg. M. E. and P. D. Perkins (40 MCZ) ; City Stream , 2 km SW Woodford (on hwy. 9), (42°52’N, 73°4’W), 23.viii.2001, leg. P. D. Perkins (2 MCZ) ; same locality, 3.ix.2001, leg. M. E. and P. D. Perkins (16 MCZ) .

Figures

FIGURE 38. Dorsal habitus of representative species of Nearctic Hydraenidae.