Atractides

Gerecke, Reinhard, 2003, Water mites of the genus Atractides Koch, 1837 (Acari: Parasitengona: Hygrobatidae) in the western Palaearctic region: a revision, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 138, pp. 141-378 : 261

ATRACTIDES SZALAYI ( MOTAŞ & TANASACHI, 1948)

Megapus szalayi Motaş & Tanasachi, 1948 syn to A. oblongus ( Walter, 1944) : syn. nov.

Type series: Missing. Locus typicus: Romania, Vallée du Rîuşorul, affluent de la Dâmbovitza (reg. Pitesti) le 22.X.1948, 1 ♂ .

Discussion: Motaş et al. (1958) compared A. szalayi in their description with A. issajewi (Sokolow, 1928b) from Turkestan and the little known A. borceai from the French Alps, here considered a synonym of A. walteri . In fact, this taxon is closely related to A. spinipes and A. oblongus , as can be deduced from the combination of the following characters: small dimensions, minute glandularia, muscle attachments unsclerotized, coxal field longish, I-L-5 with S-1 and -2 similar in shape, narrow setal interspace, male genital field with convex anterior, and weakly indented posterior margin, excretory pore smooth, Vgl-1 + 2 fused, palp without sexual dimorphism. The single male on which the original description was based differs from A. spinipes in the shape of the genital organ, with the posterior third of the gonopore flanked by Ac-3 (in A. spinipes only the posterior fifth) and in the L/H ratio of P-2 (1.33, in A. spinipes <1.25). Both character states are found in A. oblongus , a species poorly known at the time when A. szalayi was published. Also, in further characters underlined by the authors, such as the slightly concave posterior margin of Cx-4, and the position of the sword seta on P-4, there is good agreement with A. oblongus . Notwithstanding the lack of some important morphological details in the original description (e.g. I-L measurements) there is sufficient evidence for the synonymy of A. szalayi with A. oblongus . This interpretation finds confirmation in the analysis of preparations published under this name from Austria and southern Germany (see Discussion of A. oblongus ).