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 : 255

ATRACTIDES FIRMUS ( WALTER, 1947)

Megapus firmus Walter, 1947

[syn. to A. barsiensis? ( Motaş et al., 1958) rejected synonmy]

Syn. to A. loricatus Piersig, 1898 : syn. nov.

Type series: Holotype ♀, NHMB Megapus firmus Walter [red:] XV/IIIb 49 Pr.1370 Typ. ♀ ov. pasted over by Megapus firmus ♀ ov. Walter Orbe 26.7.1944 Coll.Walter; Typus; Nebengewässer im Quellgebiet der Orbe N.43/ 1944 26.7.44; XV/70.

Discussion: Since the first description, based on a single female, the only further record has come from Romania ( Konnerth-Ionescu, 1979) but it lacks morphological information, and males have not been found. Diagnostic features considered by Walter are the large genital field, absence of two pairs of muscle attachment sclerites (anteriorly from the postoc and in the ventrolateral area of the idiosoma) and the postoc not fused with Dgl-3. However, with regard to all measurements and the taxonomically important shape of palp and I-L, the holotype of A. firmus is in nearly perfect agreement with A. loricatus , at that time a poorly understood species. The presence or absence, and the tendency to fuse, of idiosomal muscle attachment sclerites, are subject to considerable age-dependent variability. Motaş et al. (1958) proposed synonymization with A. barsiensis . Here, due to the unsclerotized excretory pore and agreement in all important measurements, both A. barsiensis and A. firmus are considered synonyms of A. loricatus .