Tropihalacarus Otto & Bartsch, 1999

Bartsch, Ilse, 2015, The genital area of Halacaridae (Acari), life stages and development of morphological characters and implication on the classification, Zootaxa 3919 (2), pp. 201-259 : 233

Tropihalacarus Otto & Bartsch, 1999

(Fig. 84)

Type species. Tropihalacarus spio Otto & Bartsch, 1999 .

Adults. Genital and anal plate fused in both female and male. Female GA with three pairs of slender pgs; no sgs on genital sclerites ( Otto & Bartsch 1999: fig. 2). Ovipositor elongate, number and shape of genital spines not known. Male with 31–100 slender pgs, scatteredly arranged around GO, genital sclerites with five pairs of short sgs, two anterior pairs seta-like, three posterior ones slightly spur-like ( Otto & Bartsch 1999: fig. 3). Length of male GO slightly less and distance to anal sclerites somewhat longer than in female. Three pairs of short internal gac arranged adjacent in posterior half of GO (Fig. 84). AE without epimeral pores.

Juveniles. Deutonymphal GP separated from AP. GP with two pairs of small internal gac; two pairs of pgs but no sgs ( Otto & Bartsch 1999: fig. 13). Protonymph and larva not seen.

Remarks. Two species have been attributed to this genus, both are recorded from the tropical Pacific Ocean ( Bartsch 1995b; Otto & Bartsch 1999). In dorsal aspect the species are indeed similar with their ornamentation of the plates, elongate OC, long slender gnathosoma, but there are doubts that they belong to the same genus. More specimens of both adults and juveniles are necessary for further studies.