~ 6th AQUATIC BIODIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ~

2017 - Sibiu/Transylvania/Romania/European Union

Notonecta glauca sensu lato – between subspecies, species complex and „good”
species

Horea OLOSUTEAN * and Mirabela PERJU *

* „Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Ecology and Environmental
Protection, Applied Ecology Research Center, 5-7 Raţiu str., mesaje.facultate@yahoo.com

Keywords: Notonecta glauca, Notonecta meridionalis, Notonecta obliqua, taxonomic

debate.

Abstract
Notonecta glauca Linnaeus 1758, Notonecta meridionalis Poisson 1926 and
Notonecta obliqua Thunberg, 1787 are presently considered separate species by aquatic
Heteroptera specialists. However, this classification was not always in place, throughout the
years Notonecta meridionalis being considered subspecies of both Notonecta glauca and
Notonecta obliqua. In that order, Poisson described Notonecta meridionalis in 1926 as
Notonecta obliqua meridionalis, considering it to similar with Notonecta obliqua to be
declared as a new species. The same Poisson described Notonecta glauca hybrida, which he
considered a different subspecies of the Notonecta glauca, later to be identified as Notonecta
obliqua. For the matter to be even more confusing, individuals identified as Notonecta glauca
hybrida were also later reevaluated as being Notonecta meridionalis.
Identification of the three species was for a long period based on coloristic patterns of
both hemielitrae and abdominal parts, but the large chromatic variation potential of all three
species was established by a large number of studies, making this identification key obsolete.
The present day identification is based on the conformation of the male paramere and of the
female genital segments, both very similar for all the three species and presented in different
variations in the several keys available in scientific literature, contributing to the confusion
regarding the taxonomic status of the species.
Angus identified the chromosomal differences between the three species and
established that there is sufficient information for declaring them separate species based on
that, but its study is limited due to the extremely low number of individuals analyzed, and it is
contradicted by several studies that found no obvious genetic differences between the analyzed
genes of the three species.
Concluding, it is impossible to establish based on the existing information if the three
species are different, part of a species complex or just taxonomic varieties of a single species,
therefore our suggestion is that they are referred as Notonecta glauca sensu lato. A consistent
genetic study is needed to establish the taxonomic status of Notonecta glauca, Notonecta
obliqua and Notonecta meridionalis.