First record of three species of Helochares (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae) from western ghats of India

Hydrophilidae is one of the families of aquatic beetles which are known as water scavenger beetles. There are about 212 species of aquatic beetles belonging to Hydrophilidae from India. 10 species of genus Helochares Mulsant, 1844 had been reported from India out of which two species has been reported from Western Ghats. The present study documents three more species namely Helochares crenatus Régimbart, 1903, Helochares lentus Sharp, 1890, Helochares negatus Hebauer, 1995 from Western Ghats region of Tamil Nadu and Kerala as new records.