''Helochares'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of water scavenger beetles in the family

Hydrophilidae Hydrophilidae, also known colloquially as water scavenger beetles, is a family of beetles. Aquatic hydrophilids are notable for their long maxillary palps, which are longer than their antennae. Several of the former subfamilies of Hydrophilidae ...

, represented by 161 described species. It is distributed across the

Afrotropical The Afrotropical realm is one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Sub-Saharan Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly known as the Ethiopi ...

Australasian Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different contexts, ...

, Indo-Malayan,

Nearctic The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America ...

, and

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

realms.

Description

As currently defined, ''Helochares'' contains small to medium-sized beetles (2–7 mm), which are yellowish to brown in coloration. There is a lot of variation in the impression of the elytral punctation, and the aedeagal forms are also highly variable (see Figure 37 in Girón and Short 2021). A detailed diagnosis can be found in Girón and Short 2021. Females carry their eggs in a cocoon anchored to the hind femora and held under the abdomen as in several other Hydrophilidae.

Taxonomy

''Helochares'' is one of the largest and most taxonomically problematic genera within the

Acidocerinae Acidocerinae is a subfamily in the family Hydrophilidae of aquatic beetles, and it contains over 500 species in 23 genera. Taxonomy Acidocerinae has been considered a subfamily since Short and Fikáček restructured the classification of the H ...

. It was originally described by

Étienne Mulsant Martial Étienne Mulsant (2 March 1797, Marnand, Rhône – 4 November 1880) was a French entomologist and ornithologist. Biography Initially employed in commerce, Mulsant wrote ''Lettres à Julie sur l'entomologie, suivies d'une description mét ...

in 1844. For a long time ''Helochares'' contained five subgenera: '' Batochares'' (currently recognized as a separate genus ), ''Helochares'', ''Helocharimorphus'' (now synonymized under ''Helochares'' ), ''Hydrobaticus'' (now synonymized under ''Helochares'' ), and '' Sindolus'' (currently recognized as a separate genus ). Several taxa that used to be recognized as typical ''Helochares'' are now assigned to newly created genera (e.g., '' Colossochares'', ''

Novochares ''Novochares'' is a primarily Neotropical genus of water scavenger beetles in the family Hydrophilidae represented by 15 described species, one of which is thought to be introduced in Florida in the United States of America. Taxonomy The genu ...

'') or re-assigned to exinsting genera (i.e., '' Peltochares''), based on a phylogenetic analysis based on molecular data.

Species

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q14931170 Hydrophilidae genera