ISSN 1211-8788 Acta Musei Moraviae, Scientiae biologicae (Brno) 89: 25–51, 2004 The water beetles (Coleoptera: Hydradephaga) of Afghanistan, with particular emphasis on the collection of the Moravian Museum Brno, Czech Republic JIØÍ HÁJEK 1 & HANS FERY 2 1Dept. of Entomology, National Museum, Kunratice 1, CZ-148 00 Praha 4, Czech Republic; e-mail: [email protected] 2Räuschstraße 73, D-13509 Berlin, Germany; e-mail: [email protected] HÁJEK J. & FERY H. 2004: The water beetles (Coleoptera: Hydradephaga) of Afghanistan, with emphasis on the collection of the Moravian Museum Brno, Czech Republic. Acta Musei Moraviae, Scientiae biologicae (Brno) 89: 25–51. – We present all known records of Hydradephaga (Coleoptera: Gyrinidae, Haliplidae, Dytiscidae) from Afghanistan, including recently studied material. The latter was chiefly collected during five Czech scientific expeditions to Afghanistan in 1960’s and is now deposited in the Moravian Museum Brno (Czech Republic). Fourteen species are recorded from Afghanistan for the first time, and eleven first records from other countries are provided. Altogether four species of the family Gyrinidae, four species of the family Haliplidae, of which one is in doubt, and 52 species of the family Dytiscidae, of which two are in doubt, are now known from Afghanistan. Only four of these taxa are known to be endemic to this country. Members of the families Hygrobiidae and Noteridae have never been recorded. Key words. Coleoptera, Gyrinidae, Haliplidae, Dytiscidae, Afghanistan, distribution, first records Introduction Although several biological expeditions have ventured to Afghanistan in the past, the country remains one of the least explored areas in the Palaearctic region. To our knowledge, water beetles have been collected during at least sixteen expeditions; eleven of them were led by other than Czech scientists: J. Klapperich (Germany) in 1952–1953 (OCHS 1955, GUÉORGUIEV 1963); H.G. Amsel (Germany) in 1956 (GUIGNOT 1961); H.G. Amsel & G. Ebert (Germany) in 1966 (AMSEL 1967); K. Lindberg (Sweden) in 1957–1958 (GUIGNOT 1960, GUÉORGUIEV 1963), 1959–1960 (GUÉORGUIEV 1963, 1975) and 1962 (GUÉORGUIEV 1975); R. Yosu (Japan) in 1960 (SATÔ 1966); F. Kasy, A. & E. Vartian (Austria) in 1963 and 1965 (GUÉORGUIEV 1967); Y. Arita (Japan) in 1970 (SATÔ 1972); G. Meurgues & G. Ledoux (France) in 1974 (LEGROS 1977). The five expeditions to Afghanistan organised by Czech biologists took place between 1963 and 1967. The rich entomological material from these expeditions is deposited in the collection of the Moravské zemské muzeum Brno (Moravian Museum Brno) and has been previously studied by several specialists. This material also includes water beetles. The aim of the present paper is to summarise all data on water beetles from Afghanistan (Gyrinidae, Haliplidae, Dytiscidae) based on the literature, the material deposited in Brno, and a few additional data coming from other sources. 25 J. HÁJEK & H. FERY Material and methods All records from Afghanistan found in the literature are presented for each species. Studied material data are ordered as follows: number of specimens, label texts, and depository. Our remarks are given in square brackets. Data on material stemming from four Czech expeditions are followed by abbreviations in square brackets, which are taken from JAKEŠ & POVOLNÝ (1967): “J” stands for “O. Jakeš expedition 1963–64”; “Š” stands for “J. Šimek expedition 1965–66”; “PT” stands for “D. Povolný & F. Tenora expedition 1966”; “P” stands for “D. Povolný, J. Gaisler, Z. Šebek & F. Tenora expedition 1967”. Material from the remaining expedition (“D. Povolný expedition 1965”) is relatively limited and comes only from the environs of Jalalabad; it is not marked by any abbreviation. Recent names of the provinces and localities are unified according to The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, 10th edition (London, 2001). Specifications of localities are taken from standard sources such as Andrees Handatlas (Bielefeld, Leipzig, 1890), Gazetteer of Afghanistan (Washington, D.C., 1992), Stiehlers Handatlas (Gotha, 1928/30), The World Atlas (Moscow, 1967), Knauers Grosser Weltatlas (Munich, 1999), and Microsoft Encarta World Atlas 2000. We supplemented these sources with data from DUPREE (1971), ADAMEC (1972, 1985), and SCHÜTZE & KLEINFELD (1997). We adopt the style of The Times Atlas for the presentation of the coordinates of many localities. The Appendix contains names that we assumed would not to be commonly known. These names are marked with an asterisk in the text. Short characteristics of the distribution are cited for the species recorded from Afghanistan or other countries for the first time. We refer to the Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera (MAZZOLDI 2003, NILSSON 2003a, b, VONDEL 2003) for information about a more general distribution of each species. Abbreviations The following acronyms are used for denoting the depositories: CGW . coll. G. Wewalka, Wien, Austria CHF . coll. H. Fery, Berlin, Germany, property of the NMW COK . coll. O. N. Kabakov, St. Petersburg, Russia JHCP . coll. J. Hájek, deposited in the Národní Muzeum, Praha, Czech Republic MRTO . Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali, Torino, Italy (M. Daccordi) MZMB . Moravské zemské muzeum, Brno, Czech Republic (V. Kubáò) NHMB . Naturhistorisches Museum Basel, Switzerland (M. Brancucci) NMPC . Národní muzeum, Praha, Czech Republic (J. Hájek) NMW . Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Austria (M. A. Jäch) SMNK . Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe, Germany (G. Ebert, A. Riedel) ZSM . Zoologische Staatssammlung, München, Germany (M. Baehr, M. Kühbandner) 26 Acta Mus. Moraviae, Sci. Biol. (Brno), 89, 2004 Hydradephaga of Afghanistan List of recorded species Family Gyrinidae Subfamily Gyrininae Aulonogyrus (s.str.) concinnus (Klug, 1834) References. OCHS (1955: 47): “Kandahar-Kuna* 950 m; 2.II., 7.II. und 7.III.1953”, “Tangi-Saitan* bei Kabul 1750 m; 27.V.1952”, and “Kabul 1740 m; 20.VII.1952”. Material studied. Afghanistan: 96 exs., “N. Afghanistan, Prov. Herat*, coll. O. Jakeš”, “Bala Murghab*, 18.9.–21.9.1964, 470 m” [J73, irrigation canal] (MZMB). Armenia: 1 ex., “Armenia, 13–14.7.2003, Ararat prov., 1300–2100 m, Khosrov nature reserv., 39°59’N 44°53’E, V Zieris lgt.”, J. Hájek det. 2003, coll. V. Zieris (Pardubice, Czech Republic). Turkmenistan: 1 ex., “Turkmenia – Chardzhou [= Chärjew], Dargan Ata [ca. 40.50N 61.57E], 2.–4. 6. [19]92, Z. Kleteèka lgt.”, J. Hájek det. 1999 (JHCP). Notes. A South Palaearctic species. It occurs in southern and Central Europe, North Africa, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, China and Mongolia (MAZZOLDI 1995). First records from Armenia and Turkmenistan. Gyrinus (s.str.) distinctus Aubé, 1838 References. OCHS (1955: 46): “Kuschke, ex. Coll. Hauser”; exact locality unknown. OCHS (1955: 46) assumed that the single specimen was collected in northern Afghanistan near the Turkmenistan border. Subfamily Orectochilinae Orectochilus (s.str.) afghanus Ochs, 1955 References. OCHS (1955: 49): “Nuristan*, Bashgultal* 1100–1200 m; 10.–17.IV.1953” (type locality), and “Pagman-Gebirge*, ca. 30 km westlich von Kabul aus Höhen von 2400 m, 6.VII.1952, resp., 2300 m, 30.V.1952”. Orectochilus (s.str.) nuristanicus nuristanicus Ochs, 1955 References. OCHS (1955: 48): “Nuristan*, Kutiau*, 1400 m, 10.V.1953” (type locality). Family Haliplidae Haliplus (Haliplinus) fluviatilis Aubé, 1836 References. GUIGNOT (1960: 320): “Sirouas* (entre Moqor* et Qalat*), au bord d’un ruisseau, sous les pierres, 1650 m, 8 avril 1958”, and “Chevaki* (près Kaboul*), steppe, sous les pierres, 1800 m, 4 oct. 1957”. GUÉORGUIEV (1963: 216): “Balkh* (Turkestan afghan), marécage, alt. 385 m, 1 ♂ à 19.V.1959 (K. Lindberg)”. Acta Mus. Moraviae, Sci. Biol. (Brno), 89, 2004 27 J. HÁJEK & H. FERY Haliplus (Liaphlus) maculatus Motschulsky, 1860 References. VONDEL (1991: 119): “1 ♀, W. Afghanistan, Hari Rud*, Herat*, 20.vii.1949, Danish Central Asian Expedn, St. no. 4, Ex stomach of Lohivanellus indicus, Haliplus fulvus, J. Balfour-Brown det. 1964 (BMNH) [= British Museum of Natural History, London]”. [? Haliplus (Liaphlus) variegatus Sturm, 1834] References. GUÉORGUIEV (1963: 216) (as Haliplus variegatus pallidior J. Müller, 1900): “Kandahar* (31.36N 65.41E), alt. 950 m, 1 ♂ et 5 ♀ à 13.II.1953 (J. Klapperich)”. Notes. VONDEL (1991: 133) called the occurrence of this species in Afghanistan into doubt. According to him, the specimens probably belong to another species such as H. abbreviatus Wehncke, 1880 or H. villiersi Legros, 1972. Peltodytes caesus (Duftschmid, 1805) References. GUÉORGUIEV (1963: 215): “environs de Kaboul*, alt. 1740 m, 1 exempl. à 16.IX.1952 (J. Klapperich)”. Material studied. Afghanistan: 1 ex., “N Afghanistan, Prov. Herat*, coll. O. Jakeš”, “Murièaq*, 16.6.1964, 400 m” [J28, at light] (MZMB). Family Dytiscidae Subfamily Agabinae Agabus (Gaurodytes) biguttatus (Olivier, 1795) References. GUIGNOT (1960: 320, 321) (as Agabus (Dichonectes) biguttatus, A. (D.) nitidus (FABRICIUS, 1801), and Agabus (D.) nitidus ab. nigricollis ZOUBKOFF, 1833): “Siah Guerd* (vallée du Ghourband*), rivière et au bords, 1920 m, 28 juill. 1957”, “Haouz-Mahiyan* (75 km à l’ouest de Kaboul*), marécage, 2470 m, 4 avril 1958”, “Chevaki* (près Kaboul*), steppe, sous les pierres, 1800 m, 4 oct. 1957”, “Kotal-Lachva* (entre Qal’éh Chahrak* et Chibarg*, Hézaradjat*), en bas du col, dans torrent et au bords, 2500 m, 22 août 1957”, “Tang- Djebel Baz* ou Tang-Kharzar* (entre Khvadjah Tchicht* et Tang-Azao*, Hzaradjat*), dans torrent et au bord, 1850 m, 24 août 1957”, “Sirouas* (entre Moqor* et Qalat*), au bord d’un ruisseau, sous les pierres, 1650 m, 8 avril 1958”, and “Badgah* (près Hari Roud*, à 30 km à l’ouest de Daoulet Yar*, Hézaradjat*), bassin d’une source, 2350 m, 16 août 1957”. GUÉORGUIEV (1963: 219, 200) (as A. (D.) biguttatus, A. (D.) biguttatus ab. balearicus GUIGNOT, 1953, and A. (D.) nitidus): “Pir-Khil* (environs 55 km NE d’Orozgan*), bassin d’une source, alt. 2350 m, ... à 13.VI.1960 (K. Lindberg)”, “Masdjed-Tchoubi*, Chileh Hamman* (en bas du col de Sabzzak*), bassin d’une source, alt. 2190 m, ... (K. Lindberg)”, “Qal’eh-Darreh Zang* (région de Beltchiragh*), terrain humide au pied de rochers, sous pierres, alt. 1520 m, ... à 26.V.1956 (K.