FAUNISTIC STUDY OF THE AQUATIC BEETLES ( COLEOPTERA : POLYPHAGA ) OF MARKAZI PROVINCE ( CENTRAL IRAN ) WITH NEW RECORDS

In this study, we establish the presence of 24 aquatic beetle (Coleoptera: Polyphaga) species belonging to 13 genera and five families in Markazi Province of Central Iran. Specimens were collected between 2001 and 2005. Eleven species and four genera are recorded from Iran for the first time. The ecological significance of the new records is briefly discussed.


INTRODUCTION
Aquatic Coleoptera constitute an important part of the macrozoobenthos of freshwater habitats.Small and temporary water bodies have more species than large and permanent ones (Larson, 1985).Aquatic beetles have their greatest abundance and diversity in temperate regions (Spangler, 1982).These insects are not selective in their choice of water bodies and occur in a wide variety of habitats (Galewski, 1971;Zaitsev, 1953), although many species may prefer certain types of water bodies (Hosseinie, 1978).Many of them, especially dytiscids and many hydrophilids, are generally found in habitats of small shallow water bodies or on the margin of rivers and marshes, and they occupy the zone of emergent vegetation, mats of plant debris, or flooded terrestrial vegetation along the shoreline (Jächand Margalit, 1987).The aquatic beetle fauna of Iran is partly known.Hosseinie(1992aHosseinie( , 1992bHosseinie( , 1994Hosseinie( , 1995aHosseinie( , 1995b) ) studied the aquatic beetle fauna of Fars, Guilan, Mazandaran and Khuzestan Provinces.Ostovanet al. (2004) studied the diversity, abundance, and biology of aquatic insects, including aquatic beetles, in Ardabil and Fars Provinces.Coxand Cox(1982) studied water beetles of the families Dytiscidae, Hydrophilidae, Gyrinidae, and Haliplidae in Amir-Kolayeh and the part of Anzali.Zahiri(1995) studied beetles of Haliplidae and Noteridae from the Fars and Khuzestan Provinces.Johary(1996) studied the beetles of the genus Enochrus from the aquatic coleopteran collection of Shiraz University.Atamehr(2002Atamehr( , 2004) reported 51 species belonging to 40 genera and 14 families from Tabriz Province.Aquatic beetles (Coleoptera: Polyphaga) from Markazi Province were studied to obtain valuable documentation of their occurrence in the different types of springs there.Twenty-four species were detected, among which 11 were found for the first time in Iran.A further aim of this study was to consider the obtained faunistic results from the ecological aspect.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
In 2001-2005, the water beetle fauna from 29 sampling sites was studied.Markazi Province (were the sampling was done) is located in Central Iran between 48°57' and 51°03' East and 33°23' and 35°35' North, and covers an area of 29,491 km 2 .The climate of Markazi Province is arid to semiarid.The average rainfall is 309.7 mm/year.Markazi Province has two permanent streams, Ghare-Chae (273 km) and Ghom Rood (85 km), and many small streams such as Khomain, Nozhan, Emarat, Razeghan, Masleghan, and Azna.
For collecting aquatic beetles, sweeping the water

FAUNISTIC STUDY OF THE AQUATIC BEETLES (COLEOPTERA: POLYPHAGA) OF MARKAZI PROVINCE (CENTRAL IRAN) WITH NEW RECORDS
with a metal sieve or net was the main method; in some cases, a drag-type net or light trap was used.All captured samples were separated with forceps.Sorting was performed wet or dry in a flat white tray.The beetles were preserved in 95% alcohol, which was subsequently replaced by a mixture of 75% alcohol and 5% glycerin after 24 hours.
Slide-mounted specimens and material preserved in fluid are stored in collections of the Department of Entomology of Arak Azad University.
A list of localities is given in Table 1.The 'List of species" gives the sampling locations for each species.The date of sampling and total number of individuals are also noted.All specimens were collected by the senior author.Species new for Iran are marked with an asterisk, genera new for Iran with two asterisks.
Further studies aiming to improve our knowledge on Iranian water beetles should focus on collecting in little

Table 1 .
List of sampling sites in Markazi Province (Abbreviations: No. = number, Abbr.= abbreviations of the site).