Microvelia (Picaultia) pygmaea (Dufour, 1833)

Berchi, Gavril Marius & Kment, Petr, 2015, Review of the family Veliidae in Romania (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerromorpha), Zootaxa 3963 (1) : -

Microvelia (Picaultia) pygmaea (Dufour, 1833)

Published records. Hydroessa pygmaea: Fuss (1862) . Microvelia pygmaea: Horváth (1897, 1917 ), Motaș et al. (1962), Kecskés (1997).

Material examined. ROMANIA: Caraș-Severin county: Mehadica [pond], 45°02ʹ12ʺN 22°16ʹ18ʺE, 298 m a.s.l., 29. viii.2012, 1 ♂ (ap) 1 ♂ (ma) 3 ♀♀ (ap). Constanța county: Casian [stream], 44°28ʹ53ʺN 28°29ʹ42ʺE, 20 m a.s.l., 4. viii.2011, 1 ♀ (ma). Dolj county: Vârtop [stream], 44°12ʹ28ʺN 23°18ʹ58ʺE, 141 m a.s.l., 27. vii.2012, 1 ♂ (ap) 1 ♀ (ap). Mehedinți county: Izimșa [stream], 44°10ʹ31ʺN 22°57ʹ37ʺE, 55 m a.s.l., 27. vii.2012, 1 ♂ (ma) 2 ♀♀ (ap) 1 ♀ (ma); Pătulele [stream], 44°20ʹ59ʺN 22°46ʹ44ʺE, 71 m a.s.l., 26. vii.2012, 1 ♀ (ap); Sviniţa [pond], 44°33ʹ05ʺN 22°02ʹ21ʺE, 121 m a.s.l., 19. viii.2012, 3 ♂♂ 3 ♀♀ (ap). Teleorman county: Mavrodin [stream], 44°01ʹ28ʺN 25°13ʹ41ʺE, 49 m a.s.l., 29. vii.2012, 1 ♀; Perii Broşteni [stream], 44°12ʹ14ʺN 25°14ʹ52ʺE, 82 m a.s.l., 29. vii.2012, 1 ♀ (ma). Timiș county: Grăniceri [pond], 45°26ʹ53ʺN 20°53ʹ08ʺE, 83 m a.s.l., 19. viii.2012, 1 ♂ (ap). Vaslui county: Simila [stream], 46°15ʹ45ʺN 27°42ʹ23ʺE, 72 m a.s.l., 2. viii.2012, 1 ♀ (ap).

Remarks. Excepting the north, M. pygmaea was found in all the regions of the country. It lives at the edge of both slowly and moderately quickly flowing streams with aquatic vegetation, but also in lentic water bodies. It occurs at altitudes ranging between 20 and 300 m a.s.l. ( Fig. 5 ), sometimes co-existing with Microvelia reticulata .

General distribution. Northern Africa, western and central Asia, southern Europe and southern parts of central Europe ( Cianferoni & Mazza 2012; Aukema et al. 2013; Cianferoni et al. 2013; Ghahari et al. 2013) in the north reaching the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, recently expanding more northwards ( Kment 2001; Kment et al. 2013).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Boxplots representing the altitudinal ranges of Veliidae in Romania.