This volume is entirely dedicated to the water beetles of New Caledonia. It is based mainly on two field surveys carried out by the editors in 2001 and 2009. It includes 23 taxonomic/faunistic papers authored by 19 experts from 12 countries.
A total of 58 new species (Dytiscidae: 28, Hydrophilidae: 17, Scirtidae: 12, Limnichidae: 1) are described from New Caledonia, all of them endemic. In addition, six species are described from other Indo-Pacific Islands (Bacan, Ceram, Fiji, New Guinea, Wallis & Futuna). Four genera and seven species are newly recorded from New Caledonia in this volume. One endemic species, Berosus distigma Fauvel (Hydrophilidae), has not been collected for more than a hundred years and it is therefore regarded as extinct. Several other species are threatened with extinction.
This book is richly illustrated; it includes 161 color photographs (98 beetles, 63 habitat pictures) along with distribution maps for all 124 New Caledonian species treated.