Hygrobates (s. str.) nigromaculatus Lebert, 1879

Gerecke, Reinhard, 2021, The water mites of the family Hygrobatidae (Acari, Hydrachnidia) in Italy, Zootaxa 5009 (1), pp. 1-85 : 48

Hygrobates (s. str.) nigromaculatus Lebert, 1879

Previously published records from Italy: Abruzzo ( Cicolani & Di Sabatino 1988, Di Sabatino & Cicolani 2001); Friuli-Venezia Giulia ( Di Sabatino et al. 2000); Lombardia ( Maglio 1924, 1949, Lundblad 1956, K.O. Viets 1958, Nocentini 1963); Molise ( Cicolani et al. 1995); Piemonte ( Ramazzotti 1947, K.O. Viets 1958, Nocentini 1963); Veneto ( Largaiolli 1898, Cicolani 1984).

Remarks: The status of a separate species has been recognized by Martin & Davids (2004) for populations of H. setosus Besseling, 1942 , a taxon over a long time considered a junior synonym of H. nigromaculatus - for details see also Martin et al. (2010). Recently, Pešić et al. (2020) published two further related species from the Balkans, showing that H. nigromaculatus represents a more diversified species group. Obviously, also many Italian records given above require re-investigation. However, in view of the characteristics of their collecting sites, at least for the specimens from the large prealpine lakes it is probable that they represent in fact H. nigromaculatus sensu stricto.

Habitat: Lenitobiont. Large streams, littoral of lakes.

Distribution: Palaearctic? In view of the new data concerning H. nigromaculatus -like mites, all distribution data from the 20 th century are questionable.