Halacaropsis Bartsch, 1996

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 : 218-219

Halacaropsis Bartsch, 1996

(Fig. 47)

Type species. Agaue hirsuta Trouessart, 1889 .

Adults. Both female and male with GA. Female with three pairs of moderately large internal acetabula (Fig. 47). Female GA with four to six pairs of pgs, each genital sclerite with four to five sgs. At rest ovipositor short. All genital spines distinctly sclerotized, of brown colour; basal pair of spines long and slender; apically two anterior and at least three posterior pairs of spines present, spines wide and palmate (Fig. 47; Otto 1993: fig. 13). Male GO somewhat smaller than female GO; three pairs of gac adjacent and shorter than in female; GO surrounded by about 50 smooth pgs ( Bartsch 1996c: fig. 64), genital sclerites with five to seven pairs of short spiniform sgs ( Otto 1993: fig. 4; Bartsch 1996c: fig. 65). AE with epimeral pores.

Juveniles. With one larval and two nymphal stages. In nymphs genital and anal plate separated. Deutonymphal GP with two pairs of small internal acetabula, two (to three) pairs of pgs and two pairs of minute sgs ( Bartsch 1996c: fig. 80). Protonymphal GP with pair of internal gac; pgs and sgs lacking ( Bartsch 1996c: fig. 83). All juveniles with pair of epimeral pores.

Remarks. Five species are at present known ( Bartsch 2009a), taken in tropical and warm-temperate areas of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean, from tidal and shallow water algae and seagrass. The species are large-sized (idiosoma 550–750 µm in length).