DNA Barcoding and First Record of Martarega hondurensis (Hemiptera: Notonectidae) in Northwestern Mexico1

The species within this genus are most commonly found in their brachypterous form and frequently inhabit lotic and perennial aquatic ecosystems, which allow them to capture prey through water currents (Truxal 1949; Menke and Truxal 1966).There are two known species of Martarega in Mexico: M. mexicana (Truxal) and M. hondurensis (Bare), both of which share morphological characteristics but can be differentiated by (1) the position of the nodule of the middle femur and (2) the composition of the hairs from the ventral keel in males (Truxal 1949; Mazzucconi 2011, Aquat.Insects 33:113-126).Based on historical records, M. mexicana is reported to inhabit Morelos in central Mexico, Veracruz toward the Gulf of Mexico, and the states of Nayarit, Sonora, and Chihuahua in northwestern Mexico and along the Pacific Ocean coast (Truxal 1949; Menke and Truxal 1966; Bogan et al. 2013, Southwest.Nat.58:494-497).On the other hand, M. hondurensis has been reported in Campeche in the southeast of Mexico (Niesser 1968, Studies on the Fauna of Suriname and other Guayanas 10:110-136) and is reported for the first time herein in Sinaloa, Mexico.Efforts to determine the faunal composition of aquatic insects in Mexico lack a detailed list of species belonging to the Martarega genus (Bond et al.