Water bugs (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera) of Himalayan and sub-Himalayan regions of West Bengal, India

Abstract

The present study reports a total of 61 Species belonging to 34 genera and 14 families from Darjeeling Himalaya and Jalpaiguri sub Himalaya regions of West Bengal. The study documented 11 new species to science, which were already published, 15 new records to the state and one new record to India. The study showed that the Nepomorphan families are mostly restricted to the slow flowing or to the stagnant ecosystems like ponds or lakes and the running waters are dominated mainly by the Gerromorpha. The key to all family, genera and species of aquatic Hemiptera are provided with their distribution in India and globally. The description of all species with their detail photographs and distribution map were also presented here. The diagnostic characters supported with photographs for each species are also presented here.

Keywords

• darjeeling
• eastern himalaya
• heteroptera
• jalpaiguri
• water bugs
• west bengal