Halobates Eschscholtz, 1822

The genus

Halobates Eschscholtz, 1822 View in CoL

( Heteroptera : Gerridae ) is the only taxon of insects that contains species which live on the open ocean. Five species of Halobates are completely oceanic in habitat ( CHENG, 1985; ANDERSEN & CHENG, 2004; CHENG & MISHRA, 2022). Among them, only Halobates micans Eschscholtz, 1822 is present in the Atlantic Ocean ( CHENG, 1985, 2006; ANDERSEN & CHENG, 2004).

So far, in Macaronesia H. micans has been reported from the Azores ( RIBES & BORGES, 2005) and from Madeira ( RIBES & HEISS, 2008). In the Azores, H. micans SOmetimeS OCCURS “iN FAiR NUmbeRS in a bay near the marine station on Faial Island” (Lanna Cheng, pers. comm.).

Now, H. micans can be reported from the Canary Islands, too: On 06-12-2023, a male specimen ( Fig. 1 View Fig ) was found near Arenas Blancas, located at the northwestern coast of the island of El Hierro. Four photographs of the specimen were uploaded to the online database iNaturalist (see here). Based on a photo, the identification of the specimen was confirmed by Lanna Cheng (pers. comm.).