Microvelia pulchella (Westwood, 1834)

Rogers, D. Christopher & Cruz-Rivera, Edwin, 2021, A preliminary survey of the inland aquatic macroinvertebrate biodiversity of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, Journal of Natural History 55 (13 - 14), pp. 799-850 : 826

Microvelia pulchella (Westwood, 1834)

This species of veliid water strider is known from the Virgin Islands, reported from St. Thomas, as well as Puerto Rico and other Caribbean Islands ( Barber 1939; de Kort- Gommer and Nieser 1969). We found this taxon in saline pools in and around the mangroves at Magens Beach, and in both Spring Road ghut and Cats and Chickens ghut, as well as in the water hazards at the Herman E. Moore Golf Course in St. Thomas. Barber (1939) reported the congeneric M. robusta Uhler, 1894 from St. Thomas also, but it was not collected in our surveys.