Hydraena and other aquatic Polyphaga from the Ateneo de Manila Campus, Quezon City, Philippines

Study Extent

Three permanently water-filled ponds, five temporary rock pools and three temporary creeks, most of them in small forest-like patches of secondary vegetation, were sampled for aquatic insects. All of them contained at least some water for most of the time of the year except for a few months (January to May) in the dry season. The first survey was done at the beginning of the dry season in November 2012 when the water bodies were still filled with water. A replicate sampling was performed in June 2013, the second month of the wet season.

Sampling

Bottom substrates were physically disturbed in a way that drifted arthropods could be collected by the use of a fine-meshed hand net. Additionally, submerged coarse particulate organic matter, mainly leaves, were manually taken off from the water and checked for benthic organisms.

Method steps

1. The material was initially preserved in 95% ethyl alcohol. All type material designated herein and other dissected voucher specimens were glued on entomological paper and pinned. Specimens were examined with the help of an OLYMPUS SZ 61 stereo microscope. Dissected body parts were examinded in lactic acid under an OLYMPUS CX21 compound microscope.

Adult stages of aquatic Polyphaga (Insecta: Coleoptera: Elmidae, Hydrophilidae, Hydraenidae)

1. Hydraena
   common name: Long-palped Water Beetles rank: genus
2. Helochares
   rank: genus
3. Enochrus
   rank: genus
4. Stenelmis
   rank: genus

The National Capital Region (NCR) of the Philippines, known as Metro Manila, had about 12 Mio inhabitants as of 2010 and is among the most populous metropolitan regions of the world when the highly urbanized neighboring areas are included. Its largest administrative unit is Quezon City with more than 2.7 Mio inhabitants, where the study site, the campus of the Ateneo de Manila University, is situated.