Altavelia, a new genus of Neotropical Veliinae (Heteroptera: Gerromorpha: Veliidae), with a key to species and descriptions of four new species from Colombia.

ABSTRACT

The new genus Altavelia Polhemus Moreira (Heteroptera Gerromorpha Veliidae) includes seven species previously contained in the inveruglas group of Paravelia Breddin, 1898 and four new species from Colombia A. altoandina Molano Morales, A. antioquia Molano Morales, A. montana Molano Morales, and A. quindiana Molano Morales. Additionally, A. amoena (Drake, 1957) is synonymized with A. flavomarginata (Hungerford, 1930). The genus is characterized by prominent setal tufts or sclerotized wing-like processes on the male proctiger; elongate body shape with long, slender legs; uniformly blackish forewings; antennal segment I longest; and the female abdomen with tergum VIII deflexed. Species in this genus occur at high elevations in the Andes Mountains with records from 1500 to 3600 m. A key is provided to all 11 species in the genus and new distributional records are presented for A. boliviana (Breddin, 1898), A. columbiensis (Hungerford, 1930), and A. flavomarginata.