The water striders of Pakistan (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerridae): new records from Punjab and first checklist for the country Author Cianferoni, Fabio National Research Council of Italy, Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems (CNR-IRET), Via Madonna del Piano 10, I- 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (Florence), Italy. & University of Florence, Natural History Museum, “ La Specola ”, Zoology, Via Romana 17, I- 50125 Florence, Italy. Author Saleem, Rukhshanda 0000-0001-5291-2843 University of Gujrat, Department of Zoology, Hafiz Hayat Campus, Jalalpur Jattan Road, Gujrat, Punjab 50700, Pakistan. sumera. afsheen @ uog. edu. pk; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 5291 - 2843 & University of Sialkot, 1 - km Main Daska Road, Sialkot, Punjab 51310, Pakistan. sumera.afsheen@uog.edu.pk Author Afsheen, Sumera 0000-0001-5291-2843 University of Gujrat, Department of Zoology, Hafiz Hayat Campus, Jalalpur Jattan Road, Gujrat, Punjab 50700, Pakistan. sumera. afsheen @ uog. edu. pk; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 5291 - 2843 sumera.afsheen@uog.edu.pk Author Zia, Ahmed NARC-National Agricultural Research Centre, Park Road, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan. text Zootaxa 2021 2021-07-06 4996 3 469 491 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.4996.3.3 1175-5326 5074713 205E48E2-AA8C-488D-81CB-46AF357FA60B Gerris (Gerris) costae sahlbergi Distant, 1879 Gerris sahlbergi Distant 1879: 125 . Gerris costai mongoliensis Lansbury 1966: 211 . Syn. Kanyukova 1982: 82 . Material examined. INDIA . Jammu and Kashmir . Kashmir division . Undefined district : Frisland , 8000 ft. [ca. 2440 m a.s.l. ], 22. V . –9. VI .1952, 1 ♀ macr., leg. F.A. Kincl , det. F. Cianferoni 2020 ( CFC ); idem , 23 ♂ , 31 ♀ macr., idem , det. P. Kment 2021 ( NMPC ); idem , 2 ♂ , 2 ♀ macr., idem ( CFC ) . General distribution. This species is known from from Afghanistan , India (Kashmir), Tajikistan , Kyrgyzstan , Uzbekistan , Kazakhstan , China , Mongolia , and Russia (Siberia). Remarks. The status and interpretation of the subspecies of G. costae (Herrich-Schäffer, 1850) are questionable (see e.g. Cianferoni 2019 ) because the diagnostic characters are ambiguous (see Cianferoni 2011 and Berchi et al. 2018 for further information). Also, since this subspecific taxon is not well-supported with molecular data (see e.g., Damgaard 2006 ), it could fall within the variability of the species, due to geographical variations of the populations. However, more research is needed to resolve this question. It is likely that this taxon could occur also in Pakistan (Azad Kashmir) and other regions in the northern part of the country.