Sperchon amuzgari Bader & Sepasgosarian, 1979

Pešić, Vladimir, Mumladze, Levan & Zawal, Andrzej, 2023, New records and first DNA barcodes of water mites (Acari, Hydrachnidia) from Georgia, Ecologica Montenegrina 67, pp. 91-100 : 96

Sperchon amuzgari Bader & Sepasgosarian, 1979

Material examined — GEORGIA, Paravani river , 41.295194° N, 43.732088° E, 2000 m asl., 14 Oct. 2016, leg. Mumladze, Japoshvili , Bikashvili, Shubitidze 2♀ (sequenced; voucher IDs: CCDB 41822 E06, CCDB 41822 E07); Paravani, 41.479577° N, 43.834348° E, 2080 m asl., 14 May 2016, leg. Mumladze, Japoshvili, Bikashvili, Shubitidze 2♀ (sequenced; voucher IDs: CCDB 38560 H04, CCDB 38560 H05), one ♀ ( CCDB 38560 H04) dissected and slide mounted .

Remarks — The specimens from Georgia, used in this study for molecular analysis, morphologically match the description of Sperchon amuzgari . This species was originally described by Bader & Sepasgosarian (1979) from a karstic spring in Lorestan Province, Northern Iran, but later on synonymized by Asadi et al. (2010) with S. hispidus Koenike, 1895 . Recently, Pešić et al. (2021 b) barcoded S. hispidus -like specimens from Northern Iran and resurrected S. amuzgari as a valid species and distinct from S. hispidus .

Genetic data indicate that all examined specimens belong to the same species, forming the cluster: BOLD: AEO 5521. The latter BIN is solely composed of specimens from Georgia, with its closest neighbouring BIN ( BOLD: AEI 8944) being that of specimens of S. amuzgari from Iran. The high genetic distance between specimens from Georgia and Iran (p -distance 9.16%) demonstrates the need for taxonomic revision of populations by collecting additional material from Georgia including a male for identifying possibly undescribed cryptic species.

Habitat in Georgia — Mountainous lake and river shore with pebbles and gravel on the bottom.