Atractides (s. str.) anellatus Lundblad, 1956

Gerecke, Reinhard, 2021, The water mites of the family Hygrobatidae (Acari, Hydrachnidia) in Italy, Zootaxa 5009 (1), pp. 1-85 : 7-9

Atractides (s. str.) anellatus Lundblad, 1956

(Figs 1-2; 28 S-U; 31 E)

Material examined: Sicilia: Central South, Iblei ; I 139, 20/15/0 slide; I 142, 14/32/0 (2/2/0 slide); I 297, 2/0/0 slide; I 299, 1/0/0 slide; I 302, 9/4/4 slide; I 465, 0/1/0 slide; I 553 Int , 1/1/0 slide; I 676, 0/1/0 slide. 8 sites, 105 specimens .

Remarks: Among the Atractides species recorded from Italy, A. anellatus is characteristic in the combination of a lineated integument and the excretory pore surrounded by a sclerite ring (Fig. 1 C). Three species with the same character combination are reported exlusively from Madeira: Atractides insulanus ( Lundblad, 1941) , A. macaronensis ( Lundblad, 1941) , and A maderensis ( Lundblad, 1941) . They differ from A. anellatus variously in Fig. 1: Atractides anellatus , ♂ (I 302). A, I-L-5/6; B, palp; C, venter (genital setae omitted); D, genital field with setation. Scale bars: 100 µm.

proportions of I-L-5-6, palp segments P-2 and -4, and/or shape of coxae and the excretory pore ring, but the four species are probably representatives of a W Mediterranean-Macaronesian clade. The morphology of the Sicilian specimens is in good agreement with the diagnosis discussed by Gerecke (2003) - important morphological features are depicted in Figs 1-2. The (South)East European Atractides sokolowi ( Motaş & Tanasachi, 1948) , a further spe- cies combining a lineated integument and sclerotized excretory pore, is probably phylogenetically distant, with a very different, characteristically-shaped I-L-5/6 ( Gerecke 2003).

Habitat: Rhithrobiont. All records in the study area from sun-exposed streams at low to middle altitudes, 20-320 m; at I 553 Int in the hyporheic.

Distribution: West Mediterranean (Iberian Peninsula, Morocco, Sicily). In Italy restricted to Sicily - here with an interesting southwestern distribution, not a part of the generally more diverse limnofauna of the northern mountains. First record from Italy.

Fig. 2: Atractides anellatus , ♀. A, I-L-5/6 (I 302); B, palp (I 142); C, genital field (I 302). Scale bar: 100 µm.