View source for Mesovelia hackeri

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[[File:Mesovelia hackeri.jpg|thumb|300px|fig. 1: ''Mesovelia hackeri'', apterous male (length about 2.8 mm), from Tamaki Campus pond, University of Auckland]]
==Taxonavigation==
Ordo: Hemiptera<br />
Familia: Mesoveliidae
==Name==
* ''Mesovelia hackeri'' {{aut|Harris}} & {{aut|Drake}}, 1941 [[Wikispecies:Mesovelia_hackeri|Wikispecies link]]
==Notes==
* the first published indication of ''Mesovelia'' in New Zealand was by {{aut|Towns}} (1978: 413, fig. 4), who reported a single adult specimen (evidently an alate) from a river/stream in the Waitakere Ranges, near Auckland
* the {{aut|Towns}} (1978) reference was not mentioned by {{aut|Larivière}} & {{aut|Larochelle}} (2004)
* I collected a good series of ''Mesovelia hackeri'' (det. {{aut|T.A. Weir}}) at Newmarket Park pond, Auckland City, in June 2002, as reported by {{aut|Larivière}} & {{aut|Larochelle}} (2004: 82), who published it as a first New Zealand record
* {{aut|Larivière}} & {{aut|Larochelle}} (2004: 82) also noted that 'a number of specimens [of ''Mesovelia''] from the Cape Reinga area (ND; AMNZ) have been identified by {{aut|J.T. Polhemus}} (Colorado, USA) as belonging to an undescribed endemic species'
* {{aut|Polhemus}} had identified the Cape Reinga material as a new species long before I had collected the specimens from Newmarket Park, and it is very unclear if he had compared them with ''M. hackeri'', so it could well be the same species
* {{aut|Andersen}} & {{aut|Weir}} (2004: 480) determined N.Z. material as ''M. hackeri'' from Newmarket Park (my specimens), from 'Mangonui Co., North I.' (from {{aut|J.T. Polhemus}}), and from 'AK, Waitakera [Waitakere] Ra.' (also from {{aut|J.T. Polhemus}})
* the 'Mangonui Co[unty], North I.' specimens are likely to be from the 'Cape Reinga area' material, as Keith Wise of AMNZ used to label specimens using these county designations, and Cape Reinga is certainly in Mangonui County
* the Waitakere specimen may or may not be the {{aut|Towns}} (1978) specimen, but at any rate {{aut|Andersen}} & {{aut|Weir}} (2004: 483) stated that ''M. hackeri'' 'is most likely the ''Mesovelia'' [mesoveliid] species reported by {{aut|Towns}} (1978)'
* I have recently collected the species again, this time from the pond on the Tamaki Campus, University of Auckland (see fig. 1)
* ''M. hackeri'' is yet another example of a species that I have collected in Auckland City, but which has otherwise been largely overlooked (e.g. see [[Allodessus oliveri|''Allodessus oliveri'' (?=''A. bistrigatus'')]] and ''[[Enochrus maculiceps]]'', both of which I have also collected from both Newmarket Park pond and Tamaki Campus pond), and it is unclear how long it has been present in N.Z.

==References==
* {{aut|Andersen, N.M.}}; {{aut|Weir, T.A.}} 2004: Mesoveliidae, Hebridae, and Hydrometridae of Australia (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerromorpha), with a reanalysis of the phylogeny of semiaquatic bugs. ''Invertebrate systematics'', '''18'''(4): 467-522. {{doi|10.1071/IS03032}}
* {{aut|Larivière, M.-C.}}; {{aut|Larochelle, A.}} 2004: [http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/biosystematics/invertebrates/faunaofnz/Extracts/FNZ50/fnz50ind.asp Heteroptera (Insecta: Hemiptera): catalogue.] ''Fauna of New Zealand'', ('''50''')
* {{aut|Towns, D.R.}} 1978: [http://www.ento.org.nz/nzentomologist/abstract.php?volume_issue=j6_4&first_page=409 Some little-known benthic insect taxa from a northern New Zealand river and its tributaries.] ''New Zealand entomologist'', '''6'''(4): 409–419.



[[User:Stephen Thorpe|Stephen Thorpe]] 02:45, 17 January 2011 (CET)