Aquatic beetles at the marine / terrestrial interface

Aquatic insects are not usually found in marine habitats. Some species of minute moss loving beetles of the family Hydraenidae can however be found in hypersaline marine rockpools, only centimetres above the intertidal. Incredibly, these tiny pools can not only support thousands of these ca. 2 mm long beetles, but also different species with adaptations to different microhabitats in the same pool. More than that, progressing few meters inland, yet another saline water adapted species might occur, while freshwater-fed wet cliffs by the coast will support even more species — but freshwater ones. In January 2023, ZSM staff Adrian Villastrigo and Michael Balke visited Cyprus to investigate that fauna, collecting preliminary data for a large-scale discovery and research project. At the same time, we provided a lecture and discussion session at the University of Cyprus, one of our partners in the region.