Contribution to the study of aquatic beetles (Coleoptera)

Abstract

Introduction The study of aquatic beetles from India has been greatly neglected. Descriptions of the relatively few species by earlier workers are found scattered in literature, often accessible with considerable difficulty. In the course of these studies I have examined the unnamed collections of the Zoological Survey of India, made since 1928. I have also collected a large number of specimens in Southern India, Chotanagpur, Orissa, Rajasthan, Western Ghats and other parts of India. The earlier collections of the Zoological Survey were determined by Gschwendtner (1936). Other important recent papers dealing with this family on the Indian fauna are by Zimmermann (1928), Balfour-Browne (1939 a, 1939b, 1944a, 1945, 1946), Guignot (1954a, 1954b, 1956a, 1958, 1959a). In a series of papers (1953, 1963, 1965, and in press), I have recently described a number of species from India. Monographic works of Sharp (1880–82) and Regimbart (1899) contain descriptions of older species.