New distributional records for Gyrinidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) on New Guinea and nearby islands, with a checklist of the New Guinea species
Author
Polhemus, Dan A.
text
Zootaxa
2011
2900
51
68
journal article
46782
10.5281/zenodo.203020
28b6d159-96a6-42f2-b8bb-043d6b4973f8
1175-5326
203020
Dineutus
(
Rhombodineutus
)
heurni
Zimmerman, 1924
Fig. 3
Dineutes Heurni
Zimmerman, 1924
: 2
.
Dineutes obscurus
Zimmerman, 1924
: 1
. Syn. by
Ochs, 1955
: 139
.
Dineutus
(
Rhombodineutus
)
heurni
:
Ochs, 1926
: 140
.
Material examined.
INDONESIA
,
Papua
Prov. [= former Irian Jaya Prov.]:
5 males
,
3 females
, Wapoga River basin, upper Ziwa River at
PTFI
Wapoga Alpha drilling camp,
1050 m
. [
3500 ft
.],
3°08'41"S
,
136°34'25"E
, water temp. 19° C.,
19 April 1998
, 08:00–12:00 hrs., CL 7101, D. A. Polhemus (
USNM
);
2 males
,
2 females
, Wapoga River basin, rocky rainforest tributary to upper Ziwa River at
PTFI
Wapoga Alpha drilling camp,
1050 m
. [
3500 ft
.],
3°08'41"S
,
136°34'25"E
, water temp. 20° C.,
18 April 1998
, 10:00–17:00 hrs., CL 7100, D. A. Polhemus (
USNM
);
1 female
, Wapoga River basin, Tirawiwa River and overflow channel at abandoned Wapoga Timber Company camp, 2.0 km. S. of
PTFI
Siewa exploration camp,
60 m
.
[
200 ft
.],
3°03'20"S
,
136°23'31"E
, water temp. 27° C.,
10 April 1998
, 08:30–11:30 hrs., CL 7094, D. A. Polhemus (
USNM
);
1 male
,
2 females
, Wapoga River basin, rocky tributary to Logari River, approx. 0.5 km. W. of
PTFI
Landing Site
21,
295 m
. [
970 ft
.], water temp. 25° C.,
6 April 1998
, 12:30–14:30 hrs.
3°00'27"S
,
136°33'14"E
, CL 7091, D. A. Polhemus (
USNM
).
Discussion.
This species was described from material collected by the Archbold Expeditions in the mountains bordering the Idenberg River of western central New
Guinea
. New collections have now extended the range of
D
.
heurni
well westward into the adjacent Wapoga River Basin (
Fig. 3
).
This species was found across a relatively wide range of elevations and ecological settings within the Wapoga River catchment. The Tirawiwa River site was a broad, open, unshaded river flowing through a braided gravel bed after emerging from the northern foothills of the New
Guinea
central mountains and onto the coastal lowlands. At this locality the gyrinids were taken from eddies along the river margins just downstream of steeply cut banks formed on the outside edges of channel bends. By contrast, the Logari River site where this species was taken was a swift, deep river running in a bed of boulders, rocks and cobbles occupying a narrow valley within the foothills of the central ranges. The river channel was unshaded in the center, whereas the margins were heavily shaded by primary rain forest; the gyrinids were taken from along these shaded margins below a set of rocky rapids.
At the Tirawiwa River site noted above, this species was syntopic with both
Dineutus
(
Rhombodineutus
)
tetracanthus tetracanthus
and
Dineutus
(
Rhombodineutus
)
sinuaticollis
, while at the Logari River site it was syntopic with only the latter species. Moving still further uphill in the Wapoga Basin,
D
.
heurni
was syntopic with the much larger
Dineutus
(
Merodineutus
)
archboldianus
at the Ziwa River, where a very swift, clear, and powerful mountain river came crashing down through a largely unshaded bed of boulders and bedrock. At this latter locality the gyrinids were found on a sheltered pool formed where a small, clear tributary joined the much faster main stream. Across the Wapoga River Basin as a whole,
D
. (
R
.)
heurni
therefore appears to be a relatively constant member of local gyrinid assemblages that otherwise demonstrate marked species turnover with increasing altitude.
Based on known collections,
D
.
heurni
occupies the Mamberamo Foreland area of freshwater endemism (Area 17) as defined by
Polhemus & Allen (2007)
, being found in the foothill and premontane zones along the southern margins of both the Mamberamo and Wapoga river basins.
This species, in combination with
Dineutus
(
Rhombodineutus
)
tetracanthus tetracanthus
and
Dineutus
(
Rhombodineutus
)
sinuaticollis
, was grouped under the composite listing of “
Rhombodinetus
sp. undet.” from Station
50 in
Polhemus (2000)
. It is also the species listed as “
Rhombodineutus
sp. undet.” from Station
58 in
that same publication.