The fossils originally assigned to the family Hydrophilidae (Coleoptera, Polyphaga) from the late Miocene locality of Öhningen (southern Germany) are revised. Nine hydrophilid species are recognized, most of them representing the tribe Hydrophilini. Five species are reliably assigned to genera: Hydrochara noachica (an id="xref-ref-21-1" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1847an>), n. comb. (=Hydrophilus rehmanni an id="xref-ref-21-2" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1847an>, n. syn.), Hydrobiomorpha braunii (an id="xref-ref-21-3" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1847an>), n. comb. (=Hydrous escheri an id="xref-ref-24-1" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1862an>, n. syn.), an class="named-content genus-species" id="named-content-1">Hydrobiomorpha heerian> n. sp., Hydrophilus spectabilis an id="xref-ref-21-4" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1847an> (=Hydrophilus knorrii Heer, 1847, n. syn., =Hydrophilus giganteus an id="xref-ref-24-2" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1862an>, n. syn.), and Hydrophilus vexatorius an id="xref-ref-21-5" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1847an>. Two taxa are treated as Hydrophilini an class="named-content genus-species" id="named-content-2">incertae sedisan>: Hydrophilopsis elongata an id="xref-ref-24-3" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1862an>, and Hydrous ovalis an id="xref-ref-24-4" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1862an>. Two species represent Hydrophilidae an class="named-content genus-species" id="named-content-3">incertae sedisan>: Escheria ovalis an id="xref-ref-21-6" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1847an> and E. bella an id="xref-ref-24-5" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1862an>. The fossil genus Hydrophilopsis an id="xref-ref-24-6" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1862an> likely represents the modern genera Sternolophus an id="xref-ref-42-1" class="xref-bibr">Solier, 1834an> or Hydrobiomorpha an id="xref-ref-4-1" class="xref-bibr">Blackburn, 1888an>, the fossil genus Escheria an id="xref-ref-21-7" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1847an> likely represents some modern genus within the Hydrophilini or Hydrobiusini. Six taxa are excluded from the Hydrophiloidea: Helophorus magnus an id="xref-ref-24-7" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1862an>, an class="named-content genus-species" id="named-content-4">H. exilisan> an id="xref-ref-24-8" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1862an> (possibly belonging to Curculionidae), Hydrobius couloni an id="xref-ref-24-9" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1862an> and H. godeti an id="xref-ref-24-10" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1862an> (both possibly belonging to Curculionidae: Zygopinae), Hydrophilus braunii var. minor an id="xref-ref-24-11" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1862an>, and Hydrophilus stenopterus an id="xref-ref-24-12" class="xref-bibr">Heer, 1862an> (likely a leaf fossil). Our revision revealed a rather high amount of inaccurate family and genus assignments and a moderate amount of species-level synonymy in the original treatment of Öhnigen fauna by O. Heer. The diversity of the hydrophilid beetles in Öhningen is thus lower than previously reported, but still being slightly higher compared to other European Paleogene and Neogene localities.
