Hydraena (s.str.) dinarica, new species (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae) along with further records of Hydraena spp. from Durmitor National Park, Montenegro and comments on the DNA barcoding problem with the genus

Researchers discovered and described a new species of long-palped water beetle, Hydraena dinarica, within Durmitor National Park, Montenegro. This finding was achieved through a collaborative expedition involving citizen scientists, students, and taxonomists, who collected specimens from diverse aquatic habitats across the park using fine-meshed nets and manual substrate checks. The study integrated morphological species delimitation with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequencing, primarily conducted in the field via the MinION-based ONTrack pipeline, to validate the new species and compare it to closely related congeners within the H. saga/H. emarginata complex. Additionally, five other Hydraena species were recorded near Durmitor National Park, including the first DNA barcodes for two endemic or regionally significant species: H. biltoni (endemic to Montenegro) and H. morio. The study also highlighted challenges in DNA barcoding due to low or zero sequence divergence among recently diverged Hydraena species, providing insights into the genetic complexity of this genus.

Freitag, H., de Vries, R., Paterno, M., Maestri, S., Delledonne, M., Thompson, C., Lamed, H., Lambert, R., Fox, M., Gonzalez, M., Delocado, E., Sabordo, M., Pangantihon, C., & Njunjić, I. (2021). Hydraena (s.str.) dinarica, new species (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae) along with further records of Hydraena spp. from Durmitor National Park, Montenegro and comments on the DNA barcoding problem with the genus. Biodiversity Data Journal, 9. https://doi.org/10.3897/bdj.9.e59892