Forelia (Forelia) variegator (Koch, 1837)

Smit, Harry, Gerecke, Reinhard, Pešić, Vladimir & Gledhill, Terence, 2015, On the taxonomic state of water mite taxa (Acari: Hydrachnidia) described from the Palaearctic, part 3, Hygrobatoidea and Arrenuroidea with new faunistic data, Zootaxa 3981 (4), pp. 542-552 : 547

Forelia (Forelia) variegator (Koch, 1837)

Tiphys koenikei Barrois & Moniez, 1887 — nov. syn.

Forelia koenikei is a little reported species, illustrated only by Besseling (1964). In the original description of the species, Barrois & Moniez (1887) stated that it is close to F. variegator . However, they compared the species only with F. liliacea (Müller, 1776) . Forelia koenikei is characterized by an elongate dorsal shield, while the ventral shield has secondary sclerotization encompassing the genital plates and the excretory pore. IV-leg-6 has ventrally three heavy, curved setae. All these characters apply also to F. variegator , although IV-leg-6 has only two heavy, curved setae. But according to Besseling (1964) IV-leg-6 has 2(3) heavy, curved setae. Therefore we consider F. koenikei a junior synonym of F. variegator .