1 2 DAN A. POLHEMUS & JOHN T. POLHEMUS

1National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. 2Colorado Entomological Museum, Englewood, CO

NEW SPECIES OF MICROVELIINAE (HETEROPTERA: VELIIDAE) FROM THE

Polhemus, D. A. & J. T. Polhemus, 2000. New species of Microveliinae (Heteroptera: Veli- idae) from the Raja Ampat Islands. – Tijdschrift voor Entomologie 143: 279-289, figs. 1-14. [ISSN 0040-7496]. Published 1 December 2000. Five new species of Microveliinae are described from the Raja Ampat Islands, lying west of . The new species are as follows: Neusterensifer misoolicus sp.n. from Island; Neusterensifer gamensis sp.n. from Gam Island; Neusterensifer batantana sp.n. from Is- land; Aegilipsicola insularis sp.n. from Batanta Island; Tarsovelia rajana sp.n. from Batanta Is- land. Illustrations of key characters and distribution maps are provided for all the above species, and revised keys to species are provided for Aegilipsicola and Tarsovelia. Correspondence: Dr. Dan A. Polhemus, Dept. of Entomology, MRC 105, Smithsonian Insti- tution, Washington, DC. 20560, USA. Key words. – Veliidae; Microveliinae; Raja Ampat Islands; taxonomy; new species; keys; distri- bution.

In previous papers (Polhemus & Polhemus 1994, est summits of the major islands are not exceptionally 2000), the authors have described six new genera and tall, reaching 565 m on Misool, 931 m on Salawati, many new species of Microveliinae occurring on the 1183 m on Batanta, and 1000 m on /Gam. island of New Guinea. Recent investigations have The surface geology of the islands is predominantly now shown that certain of these genera also occur to limestone, but their interiors also contain complex ex- the west of New Guinea proper, in the islands of the posures of other sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, Raja Ampat group. The current paper describes five and as a result many of the streams and rivers in the new species of Microveliinae from these islands, pro- archipelago have beds of cobbles and gravels repre- viding a more comprehensive view of this regional senting highly varied rock types. biota. Additional species of Microveliinae, including Although the Raja Ampat group has long been representatives of the widespread and speciose genus known as an area of endemism for many groups of or- Microvelia, also occur on the islands of the Raja Am- ganisms, entomological surveys in the islands have pat group, and these taxa will be dealt with in subse- been sporadic and haphazard, particularly in regard to quent publications. aquatic groups. The most significant previous collec- The Raja Ampat Islands are a mountainous archi- tions were made by G. Evelyn Cheesman, who visit- pelago lying immediately to the west of the Vogelkop ed Waigeo in 1938, penetrating inland to the moun- Peninsula, or Bird’s Head, of far . tains surrounding the prominent peak of Mt. Nok, or The name of the group means ‘four rajas’ in Malay, re- Buffelhorn. Damselfly collections were also made by ferring to the former local rulers who were based in M. A. Lieftinck during a visit to Misool in 1948. Waigeo, Salawati, north Misool (Waigama) and south In 1991, the authors made collections of aquatic Misool (Lelintah), and is also shown on some maps by Heteroptera on Salawati, in both the mountains the variant spellings Radja Ampat or Raja Empat, the along the northern margin of the island and in the ex- latter being most correct in current Indonesian or- tensive lowlands of the south; selected groups from thography. The group contains several relatively large these collections were subsequently analyzed in the islands, notably Misool, Salawati, Batanta, and the context of larger regional monographs (Polhemus & nearly connected pair of Waigeo and Gam, plus nu- Polhemus 1993, 1996, 1997). More recently, in April merous other smaller islands and islets. The general 1999, the first author was able to make extensive col- topography of the group is rugged, although the high- lections of aquatic Heteroptera and other aquatic in-

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Figs. 1-8. Neusterensifer species. – 1, N. misoolicus, female, lateral habitus, legs omitted; – 2-5, processes of male proctiger. 2, N. misoolicus, dorsal view; 3, N. misoolicus, lateral view; 4, N. gamensis; 5, N. batantana. – 6-8, ventral view of terminal male abdomen. 6, N. misoolicus; 7, N. batantana; 8, N. gamensis. sects on Misool, Batanta, Waigeo, and Gam. These much better assessment of the aquatic Heteroptera samples were further augmented by samples taken on biota of the Raja Ampat group, and includes exam- Batanta, Waigeo, and northwestern Salawati in 1998 ples of many new species, including the Veliidae de- by Dr. Gerald Allen of the Western Australian Muse- scribed below. um and Drs. Sam Renyaan of the Universitas Cen- All measurements are given in millimeters. CL derawasih, Jayapura. This material has permitted a numbers following certain localities refer to a coding

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