Hygrobates dadayi Cook, 1967

Pesic, Vladimir & Reddy, Yenumula Ranga, 2009, New records of water mites (Acari: Hydrachnidia) from interstitial freshwaters of India, with descriptions of three new species, Zootaxa 2158, pp. 20-32 : 23

Hygrobates dadayi Cook, 1967

Material examined. Andhra Pradesh State: River Krishna at Kanaka Durga Varadhi, near Vijayawada, 16°29'13" N, 80°37'38.6" E, 3 m asl., and at Dachepalli about 50 km from Sattenapalli town, hyporheic zone (water temperature 24.1o C; pH 7.52; dissolved oxygen 4.8 ppm; salinity 0.32 ppt; conductivity 462 µS; total dissolved solids 306 ppm; turbidity 0.89 NTU; accompanying fauna: Haplocyclops sp., Leptacus sp., Parastenocaris sp. and two other unidentified harpacticoid copepods, ostracodes, nematodes, oligochaetes and insect larvae), 14 January 2009, one deutonymph; River Godavari, East Godavari District, Kotipalli village, 16°04'36.2" N 82°03'9.8" E, ca. 10 m asl., hyporheic zone [water temperature 25o C, pH 7.5; accompanying fauna: Allocyclopina inopinata Defaye & Ranga Reddy, 2008 (Crustacea: Copepoda) and oligochaetes], 30 April 2008, four females (one dissected and slide-mounted in Hoyer's fluid).

Distribution. India (Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh States), Sri Lanka ( Gledhill & Wiles 1997).

Remarks. Hygrobates dadayi was found in both surface and interstitial waters of streams by Cook (1967). Our material of H. dadayi was obtained mainly from the brackish interstitial habitat (River Godavari at Kotipalli village), as evident from its co-occurring interstitial, brackish fauna (copepod Allocyclopina inopinata Defaye & Ranga Reddy, 2008 ). However, this sampling site experiences pure freshwater conditions during peak monsoon activity, but is subject to tidal influence from the nearby Bay of Bengal at other times.