Die aquatischen Käfer der Untersuchung der Saar 1977 vor ihrem Ausbau (Coleoptera: Haliplidae, Noteridae, Dytiscidae, Gyrinidae, Hydraenidae, Hydrophilidae, Scirtidae, Elmidae)

In 1977 aquatic invertebrates were collected at 36 localities at the river Saar and several tributaries between Sarreguemines and the Moselle river. This programme formed part of a project to document the biological-ecological status of the river Saar before the start of intensive construction work to convert the river into a waterway. The project was headed by Prof. Paul Müller, Biogeography, University of the Saarland. A list of the collected and identified taxa was published, yet without information on locality, abundance or date. Recently and more than 40 years after, most of the original specimens were relocated among the alcohol preserved collection of the Centre of Biodocumentation in Landsweiler-Reden, Saarland. They were re-assessed according to the current taxonomic and nomenclatural state-of-the-art. They were also linked with the data from the original paper files. All data on locality, collecting date and abundance are published here for the first time, as are the few amendments in species names.  Noterus crassicornis (O. F. Müller, 1776) was published without detailed locality and can only now be classified as part of the provincial list of the Saarland (German Federal State). It is the first and only record for the Saarland till date. Graphoderus cinereus (Linnaeus, 1758) is also a new record for the Saarland because it was published without assignable locality. In addition, we report here a recently collected specimen of the latter species out of the river Saar. The data elaborated during the present study only now permit the use of the aquatic beetles collected in 1977 along the German section of the river Saar for a broad range of subsequent faunistic and ecological studies as well as for the assessment of water quality.