Belostomates Schöberlin 1888 (giant water bug)

Insecta - Hemiptera - Belostomatidae

It does not appear that Schöberlin actually intended to create a genus Belostomates. He said: "Von Wasserwanzen sind riesige Individuen aufgefunden, welche zur Gattung Belostoma (heute noch in Amerika lebend) gehören: (Belostomates speciosa und B. Harrisii)." Subsequent authors, starting with Scudder and Handlisch, have used "Belostomates" as a genus. Schöberlin's "B. Harrisii" is likely the extant species Belostoma harrisi and not a new species (as assumed by Scudder, Handlirsch, and Nel & Paicheler).

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Full reference: E. Schöberlin. 1888. Der Oeninger Stinkschiefer und seine Insektenreste. Societas Entomologica 3(8):61

Parent taxon: Belostomatidae according to A. Nel and J. C. Paicheler 1992

See also Handlirsch 1907 and Schöberlin 1888

Sister taxa: Aenictobelostoma, Belostoma goldfussi, Belostomates speciosum, Belostomatinae, Diplonychus rotundatus, Lethocerinae, Lethopterus, Manocerus, Scarabaeides, Sphaerodema, Stygeonepinae, Triassonepa

Subtaxa: none

Ecology:

Distribution: there are no occurrences of Belostomates in the database

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