Procorticacarus minutus, Orginal, 2021

Orginal, Harry Smit, 2021, The water mites of Western Australia (Acari: Hydrachnidia), with the description of 13 new species, Acarologia 61 (4), pp. 928-966 : 943-945

Procorticacarus minutus n. sp.

Zoobank: 35E95A24-6D27-4CC5-A6EB-9779056F2DB5

( Figures 11 A-C)

Material examined — Holotype male, stream downstream of Fortescue Falls , Karijini NP, Western Australia, Australia, 22°28.656′ S 118°33.068′ E, 606 m asl, 28 Jan. 2019 ( WAM).

Diagnosis — Dorsum with a pair of postocularia platelets, Cx-I fused medially, gonopore relatively large.

Description — Idiosoma with numerous fine papillae, dorsally 267 long and 251 wide, ventrally 308 long. Dorsum with a pair of small sclerotized postocularia platelets; posterior to postocularia platelets four pairs of glandularia platelets, the anterior pair more separated than the posterior three pairs ( Figure 11A). Excretory pore located near posterior margin of dorsum. Cx-I fused medially; Cxgl-4 well posterior to suture line of Cx-III/IV. Genital field on a rounded plate, with three pairs of acetabula lying close to each other ( Figure 11B). Gonopore wider than long (if examined in posteromedial view), but width not measurable in ventral view. Length of P1-5: 13, 56, 70, 79, 38. P2 with a slender ventral extension with some minute papillae at its tip, ventral margin of P3 smooth, P4 with a small ventral setal tubercle ( Figure 11C). Length of I-leg-4-6: 70, 74, 68. Length of IV-leg-4-6: 112, 124, 104.

Female: Unknown.

Etymology — Named for its small size.

Remarks — In the presence of a pair of postocularia platelets in the male, the new species is similar to P. angulicoxalis and P. beedelup n. sp. However, the genital field is most close to P. cooki (Imamura, 1984) . The latter species differs from the new species in an unpaired postocularia plate, and the ventral margin of P3 has many small papillae. Moreover, P. cooki has the glandularia with slit-like openings, in the new species the glandularia have “normal″ openings. From P. beedelup n. sp. the new species differs in the position of Cxgl-4, which are located closer to the medial margin of Cx-IV. Moreover, the shape of the gonopore is longer than wide in P. beedelup n. sp. but wider than long in P. minutus n. sp.