Atractides

Gerecke, Reinhard, 2003, Water mites of the genus Atractides Koch, 1837 (Acari: Parasitengona: Hygrobatidae) in the western Palaearctic region: a revision, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 138, pp. 141-378 : 190-191

ATRACTIDES KAUKASIENSIS ( THOR, 1914)

Megapus nodipalpis kaukasiensis Thor, 1914

[syn. to A. nodipalpis Thor, 1899 : Sokolow, 1940] Species dubia

Type series: Lost with the destruction of the Thor collection. The description was based on 1 male and 1 nymph. Locus typicus: Mingrelia , brook near Cageri [ Georgia], 25.06.1913, Komárek .

Description. Male (female unknown): original description extremely scanty, with the following details only: coxae more fused, genital field quite distant [from coxal field], sword seta of P-4 strong, inserted proximally. In the same paper, in his discussion of A. arcuatus, Thor figured I-L-5 and -6 and genital field of A. nodipalpis . Probably, these figures refer to the stem species and not to A. nodipalpis kaukasiensis (as suggested by K. Viets (1956). Otherwise, the author would have made reference to these figures in the caption for his new taxon, as he did in the caption for A. arcuatus .

Discussion: When Sokolow proposed the synonymization of A. nodipalpis kaukasiensis with the stem species, most probably he based his judgement on the original description only. More correctly, A. kaukasiensis should be considered a species dubia.