Torrenticola uttarkhandensis Pešić & Smit, 2019

PešićK, Vladimir, K, Harry Smit & K, Mer Man Gurung, 2022, Torrenticolid water mites of Bhutan. Genera Torrenticola Piersig, 1896 and Neoatractides Lundblad, 1941 (Acari: Hydrachnidia: Torrenticolidae), Acarologia 1941 (3), pp. 821-860 : 833

Torrenticola uttarkhandensis Pešić & Smit, 2019

Figures 1F, J, 8

Material examined — Bhutan, MG 4 Takabi Chhu, 27.14782°N, 90.68833°E, 543 m asl, 30.vi.2021, 1 ♂, 1♀ (1 ♂ dissected and slide mounted).

Description — Male (female unknown; in parentheses measurements from Pešić et al. 2019) – Idiosoma L 781 (820), W 619 (644), roundish (dorsal shield L/W ratio 1.29); dorsal shield, L/W 669 (678)/519 (527), with colour pattern as illustrated in Figure 1F ; area of primary sclerotization of the dorsal plate with four dorsoglandularia; gnathosomal bay U-shaped, proximally rounded; Cxgl-4 posterior at margin of Cx-I/II, near insertion of I-L ( Figure 8C); medial suture Cx-II+III L 99 (103); suture line of Cx-IV distinct, medially starting from posterior margin of genital field in a right angle to the main idiosoma axis; genital field subrectangular in shape, L/W 172 (172)/136 (144); ejaculatory complex conventional in shape, anterior keel, proximal and distal arms well developed ( Figure 1J); excretory pore and Vgl-2 located close to the line of primary sclerotization, excretory pore on the level with Vgl-2; gnathosoma with strongly curved ventral margin, rostrum elongated ( Figure 8F); P-2 longer than P-4, L P-2 107 (113), P-4 97 (103), P-2 ventral margin almost straight, P-2 and

P-3 ventrodistal protrusions bluntly pointed and cone-shaped, P-4 with well-developed ventral protuberances, separated by a concavity ( Figures. 8D, E).

Remarks — The single male from Bhutan generally matches the description T of. uttarkhandensis , a species described on basis of a male specimens collected in a stream in the Garhwal Himalaya of India ( Pešić et al. 2019a). In regard to an elongated gnathosomal rostrum and Cxgl-4 shifted posterior to I-L insertion, the latter species resembles Torrenticola birmana ( Lundblad, 1941) from which it differs by the ventral projections of P-2-3 not pointed, P-4 tubercles widely separated, and in a different colour pattern of the dorsal shield ( Pešić et al. 2019a).

Distribution — India (Uttarakhand State ; Pešić et al. 2019a); Bhutan (this study).