New and well-forgotten: DNA-assisted records of two beetle (Insecta, Coleoptera) species new for the fauna of Georgia with an update on the distribution of some other little studied taxa Author Japarashvili, Shota https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9674-3719 Institute of Ecology, Ilia State University, Cholokashvili av. 3 / 5 Tbilisi, 0162, Georgia shota.japarashvili.1@iliauni.edu.ge Author Bulbulashvili, Natalia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6802-1209 Rustaveli st. 8, 1400, Gori, Georgia Author Seropian, Armen https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3777-9954 Institute of Ecology, Ilia State University, Cholokashvili av. 3 / 5 Tbilisi, 0162, Georgia Author Chkhartishvili, Tinatin https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0429-1488 Institute of Ecology, Ilia State University, Cholokashvili av. 3 / 5 Tbilisi, 0162, Georgia Author Iankoshvili, Giorgi https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0429-1488 Institute of Ecology, Ilia State University, Cholokashvili av. 3 / 5 Tbilisi, 0162, Georgia Author Chitadze, Beka https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7311-5827 Institute of Ecology, Ilia State University, Cholokashvili av. 3 / 5 Tbilisi, 0162, Georgia Author Balkhamishvili, Sopio https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5198-305X Institute of Ecology, Ilia State University, Cholokashvili av. 3 / 5 Tbilisi, 0162, Georgia Author Arsenashvili, Eka https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7330-9602 Institute of Ecology, Ilia State University, Cholokashvili av. 3 / 5 Tbilisi, 0162, Georgia Author Todua, Mariami https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1870-3030 Institute of Ecology, Ilia State University, Cholokashvili av. 3 / 5 Tbilisi, 0162, Georgia Author Memishishi, Aleksi Institute of Ecology, Ilia State University, Cholokashvili av. 3 / 5 Tbilisi, 0162, Georgia text Caucasiana 2023 2023-04-18 2 63 70 http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/caucasiana.2.e98998 journal article http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/caucasiana.2.e98998 2667-9809-2-63 54DC89E92299491E915AA7766F6CDCBC 1E801B0D28DD537E841B8A03C2ED705F Coelostoma orbiculare (Fabricius, 1775) Materials Examined: GEORGIA • Ijareti; N41.6534° , E42.7048° ; 1428 m a.s.l; 09.10.2021; ISU, CaBOL ID: 1018686. Poti; N42.1647° , E41.6896° ; 1 m a.s.l.; 16.05.2021; ISU, CaBOL ID:1020485 (Fig. 2 ). East of village Mokhisi; N41.7188° , E44.4487° ; 1635 m a.s.l.; 27.06.2021; ISU, CaBOL IDs: 1020505, 1020506, 1020507. North west of Ozni Village; N41.6400° , E43.8458° ; 1961 m a.s.l.; 16.05.2017; ISU, CaBOL IDs: 1020131. Gonio; N41.5669° , E41.5669° ; 2 m a.s.l.; 27.08.2019. Sakisto lake; N42.2871° , E45.2428° ; 2250 m a.s.l.; 29.05.2022; ISU, CaBOL ID: 1033224. all leg: L. Mumladze. Figure 2. Coelostoma orbiculare (Fabricius, 1775), Ijareti. A - dorsal view; B - ventral view. Scale bar = 1 mm. Genetics: Four barcodes of the species were obtained from specimens with CaBOL-IDs 1020485, 1020505, 1020506, and 1020507 (BOLD: AAF3894). The newly obtained barcodes were nearly identical (maximum p-distance 0.05%), with the nearest neighbor in BOLD systems being Coelostoma orbiculare from Finland (BIN ID: AAF3894, with mean p-distance 0.57%). The morphology of the Georgian specimens also perfectly corresponds to the descriptions provided in the keys by Medvedev (1965) , Shatrovsky (1992) , and Jia et al. (2014) . Remarks: To date, 30 species of Hydrophilidae comprising 12 genera are known from Georgia ( Przewozny 2022 ; Tarkhnishvili et al. 2013 ). The water-scavenger beetle genus Coelostoma includes more than 100 described species, with C. orbiculare and C. hispanicum ( Kuester , 1848) being the only species of the genus in Europe ( Przewozny 2022 ). All species of Coelostoma for which biology is known, including C. orbiculare , are aquatic and collected either directly among submerged plants at the edge of water or from wet places along streams, rivers, and standing water ( Shatrovsky 1992 ; Jia et al. 2014 ), where they may be found feeding on wet and submerged surfaces, including wet rocks and artificial concrete surfaces ( Jia et al. 2014 ). The species has a wide distribution in the Palaearctic region, with the nearest records from Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Central-European Russia ( Przewozny 2022 ). The information on the occurrence of C. orbiculare in Tbilisi and Gomareti (Zaitsev 1953) was overlooked by subsequent authors, and since then, no study of the Hydrophilidae family in Georgia has been performed. Based on the material presented here, we can confirm that C. orbiculare has widespread distribution in Georgia (see Fig. 1 ).