Aquarius ventralis (Fieber, 1860)

Aquarius ventralis (Fieber, 1860) View in CoL

Gerris ventralis (Fieber) : Lindberg (1922: 16), “ Libanon, Djebel Baruk”; Dia (1983), “ Liban méridional”.

Gerris ( Aquarius) ventralis (Fieber) : Nieser & Moubayed (1986: 249), “ Liban […] Hermel […] Hammana”.

Aquarius ventralis (Fieber) View in CoL : Andersen (1990: 70), “ Lebanon ”, quotation of Nieser & Moubayed (1986, as “1985”); Andersen (1995a: 112), “ Lebanon ”, quotation of Andersen (1990); Andersen (1995 b: 99), “ Lebanon ”; Damgaard (2005: 397), “ Lebanon ”, quotation of Andersen (1990, 1995a, 1995 b); Fent et al. (2011: 42), “ Lebanon ”, quotation of Andersen (1995 b) and Damgaard (2005); Damgaard et al. (2014: S7) and Ghahari et al. (2023j: 8), “ Lebanon ”, quotation of some of the previous references.

Material examined. Survey material: Basin of Aarqa: Nahr Châne at El Aiyouna bridge, 26. III .2000, 1 ♂, ♀ apt., MLUB ; idem, 1 V ( ♀), 3 III instar nymphs ( Figs. 3b,c View FIGURE 3 ), MLUB; Nahr El Houaïch at bridge, 21.IV.2000, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ apt., MLUB . Basin of Aouali: Nabaa Abou Kharma , 29.IV.1979, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ apt., MLUB ; idem, 3.VI.1979, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ apt., MLUB ; idem, 25.X.1979, 2 ♀♀ apt., MLUB ; Nabaa Salman , 29.IV.1979, 1 ♀ apt., MLUB . Basin of El Kebir : Below Es Safa. 30. III .2008, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ apt., MLUB ; idem, 14.VI.2008, 2 V instar nymphs ( ♀♀), MLUB ; Nahr Chadra , 16.IV.2005, 4 ♂♂, 5 ♀♀ apt., MLUB ; idem, 2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀ apt., CFC ; idem, 24.X.2009, 3 ♀♀ apt., MLUB ; Nahr Chadra, 30. III .2008 , 1 ♂, 1 ♀ apt. (mating), MLUB; idem, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ apt. (mating), CFC ; Nahr Chadra , 14.IV.2008, 1 ♀ apt., 1 IV, 2 III instar nymphs, MLUB. Basin of Hasbani: Hasbani at bridge El Fardis, 31.X.2004, 2 ♂♂ apt., MLUB ; Wazzani , 14.VII.2004, 1 ♂ apt., MLUB . Basin of Ibrahim: Ibrahim at Chouâne power plant, 25.V.2004, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ apt., MLUB ; Ibrahim at Janné , 13.VI.2006, 1 ♀ macr., MLUB . Basin of Litani: Litani below Ain Zarka spring, 11.XI.2005, 1 ♂ apt., MLUB . Basin of Oustouane: Oustouane at bridge El Mazraat, 21.XI.1999, 1 ♀, 1 V instar nymph ( ♀), MLUB . Basin of Zahrani : El Tassé, 8.V.2004, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ apt., MLUB ; idem, 15.VI.2008, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ apt., 1 ≤ V instar nymph ( ♂) ; idem, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ apt., 1 ≤ V instar nymph ( ♂), CFC ; Zahrani at bridge Ouadi el Akhdar, 25.V.2004, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ apt., 2 ≤ II instar nymphs, MLUB ; Zahrani at Kfaroue , 8.V.2004, 1 ≤ IV instar nymph, MLUB .

Extra-survey material: Hammana st. [ream], 1100 m a.s.l. ( Coll. Am. Un. Beirut), 28.VIII.1952, K. Christiansen leg., L. Hoberlandt det., 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀ apt. ( NMPC) .

General distribution. Recorded from the south of Balkan Peninsula ( Bulgaria, Greece, Turkish Thrace), Cyprus, Anatolia, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Iran (see Nieser & Moubayed 1986, Andersen 1990, Andersen 1995 b, Fent et al. 2011, Ghahari et al. 2013, Ghahari 2013).

Remarks. Damgaard et al. (2014) also listed Italy in the distribution of Aquarius ventralis , quoting Griffini (1896). The latter author cited a previous work by Ragusa (1887) who in turn quoted a record of “ Gerris ventralis Fieb. ” for Sicily by Steck (1887); this record is very likely a misidentification of Aquarius najas (De Geer, 1773) , occurring in Sicily (see Faraci & Rizzotti Vlach 2007; Cianferoni 2021), since the latter author did not mention De Geer’s species and listed only the other congeneric species living on the island (see Faraci & Rizzotti Vlach 2007; Cianferoni 2021), i.e. A. cinereus (Puton, 1869) , under the name “ Gerris cinorea [sic!] Put.”. The same record (“ Gerris ventralis Fieb. ”) by Steck (1887) was subsequently quoted by Ragusa (1907) as “ Gerris ( Hygrotrechus) ventralis Fieb. ”. Then, all the citations, which refer to the same record by Steck (1887; quoted as “1886”), were summarized by Servadei (1967) in his catalogue. That unreliable record has no longer been considered in recent catalogues and checklists (e.g., Andersen 1995 b; Faraci & Rizzotti Vlach 1995; Bacchi & Rizzotti Vlach 2007; Cianferoni 2021; Aukema 2024), however, since its inclusion in the last update of the checklists of the Gerrinae of the world by Damgaard et al. (2014), it is useful to remark that A. ventralis is not part of the Italian fauna.

To our knowledge there are no published images of the immature stages of A. ventralis . Therefore we take this opportunity to include here photos of the V and III instar nymphs ( Fig. 3b,c View FIGURE 3 ).