Monatractides cf. tuzovskyi Pesic, N. Kumar, K. Kumar & S. Kumar, 2006

Pesic, Vladimir & Smit, Harry, 2009, Water mites of the family Torrenticolidae (Acari: Hydrachnidia) from Thailand, Part II. The genus Monatractides K. Viets, Zootaxa 2012, pp. 1-27 : 17

Monatractides cf. tuzovskyi Pesic, N. Kumar, K. Kumar & S. Kumar, 2006 (in Kumar et al. 2006)

( Figs. 69–74 )

Material. Thailand: River at km. 13, 465 m asl, Doi Inthanon NP, 25.xi.2007, 18° 31.532 N 98° 39.091 E, leg. Smit 0/8/0 (0/2/0 mounted); fast flowing stream crossing road to Den Ya Kat Station, 410 m asl, Chiang Dao NP, 23.xi.2007, 19° 19.735 N 98° 56.201 E, leg. Smit 0/1/0 (0/1/0 mounted); Thorntip Waterfall, Kaeng Krachan NP, 29.xi.2007, 12° 50.952 N 99° 18.498 E, leg. Smit 0/1/0.

Morphology. Female (from River at km. 13, in parentheses specimen from Den Ya Kat Station): Idiosoma (ventral view: Fig. 70 ) L 694 (709), W 431 (431); dorsal shield ( Fig. 69 ) L 575 (566), W 343 (363), L/W ratio 1.68 (1.56); dorsal plate L 538 (531); shoulder plate L 140 (134), W 53 (53), L/W ratio 2.6 (2.5); frontal plate L 109 (100), W 47 (44), L/W ratio 2.3 (2.3); shoulder/frontal plate L ratio 1.28; capitular bay L 131, W 45, L/W ratio 2.9; Cx-1 total L 236 (239), Cx-1 medial L 103, Cx-2+3 medial 44 (31); ratio Cx-1 L/ Cx-2+3 medial L 5.4 (7.7); Cx-1 medial L/Cx-2+3 medial L 2.3; genital field L/W 141 (141)/116 (116), L/W ratio 1.2 (1.2); distance genital field–excretory pore 197 (202), genital field–caudal idiosoma margin 269 (278); capitulum ( Fig. 73 ) ventral L 173 (176); chelicera L 198 (192); palp ( Fig. 72 ) total L 166 (166), L: P-1 23 (21), P-2 50 (49), P-3 32 (35), P-4 41 (41), P-5 20 (20); %L (given as % of total L): P-1 13.8 (12.7), P-2 30.1 (29.5), P-3 19.3 (21.1), P-4 24.7 (24.7), P-5 12.1 (12.1); P-2/P-4 ratio 1.2 (1.2); L I-Leg-4-6 ( Fig. 74 ): 82 (76), 80 (74), 86 (85); I-Leg-6 L/W ratio 2.26 (2.24).

Remarks. The specimens from Thailand agree with Monatractides tuzovskyi Pesic et al. 2006 due to the elongated idiosoma (e.g., dorsal shield L/W>1.5), P-2 and P-3 with a heavy ventral setae, P-4 without ventral denticles, a capitulum with elongated rostrum and Cx-4 posteriorly extended far beyond the genital field. Differences (in parentheses data taken from Kumar et al. 2006) are found in its smaller idiosoma and palp dimensions (e.g., idiosoma L 831, dorsal shield L 681, genital field L/W 169/132, palp total L 180). However, due to the fact that the male is not yet described, this is only a tentative assignment. The variability needs to be examined to clarify the taxonomy.

Distribution. India (Western Himalayas). New for Thailand.

Figures

FIGURES 69 – 74. Monatractides cf. tuzovskyi Pesic, N. Kumar, K. Kumar & S. Kumar, female, River at km. 13: 69 = dorsal shield; 70 = idiosoma, ventral view; 71 = anterodorsal portion of ventral shield; 72 = palp, medial view; 73 = capitulum; 74 = I-Leg- 5 - 6. Scale Bars = 100 µm.