Ranatra sjostedti Montandon, 1911

Mazzucconi, Silvia Ana, Reyes, Cristina Armúa De & Estévez, Ana Lía, 2022, Aquatic and semiaquatic Heteroptera (Insecta: Hemiptera) from Iberá Natural Reserve (Corrientes Province, Argentina), Zootaxa 5104 (4), pp. 451-505 : 472-473

Ranatra sjostedti Montandon, 1911

Ranatra sjostedti Montandon, 1911a : Bull. Soc. Sci. Bucarest, 656.

Material examined. Laguna Iberá RS: 1 ♀, 1–3.xii.2012; 3 ♂, 2 ♀, route 40, roadside pond and ditches, 28°33’53.90’’S, 57°12’59.40’’W, 15.ii.2018; 5 ♂, 2 ♀, route 40, roadside pond, 17.ii.2018. San Ignacio RS: 1 ♀, Reserva Privada Don Luis , Monte Don Luis, roadside pond , 27°52’0.60’’S, 56°54’54.18’’W, 16.xi.2018; 1 ♀, Camping Monterrey, Aguará pedestrian path, marshland , 27°52’14.10’’S, 56°52’59.70’’W, 18.xi.2018. San Nicolás RS: 1 ♀, Carambola Stream , 28°11.067’S, 57°26.567’W, 14.xii.2013; 2 ♀, marshland next to the house for the rangers, 15.xii.2013.

General distribution. Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay ( Moreira et al. 2011b).

Habitat. Ranatra sjostedti has been found in lagoons and marshes with floating vegetation and in urban rain pools without aquatic vegetation ( Neiff & Poi de Neiff 1979; Poi de Neiff 1981; Bruquetas de Zozaya 1986; Fontanarrosa et al. 2009). This species has also been collected from shaded streams that are slow-flowing, with floating and emergent vegetation, and with gallery forests that run along their margins, and in river floodplains ( Poi de Neiff & Neiff 2006; Torres et al. 2007). It has been found in association with Pontederia crassipes , Lemna sp. and Paspalum repens Bergius ( Neiff & Poi de Neiff 1979; Bruquetas de Zozaya 1986; Poi de Neiff & Neiff 2006).

At the INR, R. sjostedti was collected from the margins of the Iberá Lagoon in shallow waters with emergent and floating vegetation (Estévez et al. 2003). During the present study, this species was collected from the unshaded margins with dense floating, emergent, and submerged vegetation of marshlands, ponds, roadside ditches and the Carambola Stream.

Remarks. Ranatra sjostedti was collected together with R. rabida and R. signoreti .