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 : 233

ATRACTIDES SEMIDISTANS (HUSIATINSCHI, 1937)

Megapus nodipalpis semidistans Husiatinschi, 1937b

Syn. to A. nodipalpis Thor, 1899 : syn. nov.

Type series: Missing. Locus typicus: Le petit ruisseau Solonet, qui coule à la lisière de la tourbière de Mihodra, altitude 415 m, 3.VI.1937, Berhomet s. Siret, Bucobine [ Roumanie] .

Description. Female (male unknown): L/W 1100/ 950 Mm, integument smooth, glandularia small; coxal field L/W 490/780 Mm, mediocaudal margin Cx-1 + 2 convex, with a knob shaped subcutaneous tip, apodemes of Cx-2 elongated, in an acute angle; gonopore L 145, genital plate L 150 Mm, pregen strongly developed, Ac in an obtuse angle, left genital plate misshaped and missing Ac-2; excretory pore ‘very small’, probably unsclerotized, no information on Vgl-1; I-L-5 L 292, S-1 L 140, S-2 105, interspace (calculated from fig. 6 of original description) 42 Mm; I-L-6 curved, with maximum H basally (HA) L 238, H 75 Mm; gnathosoma L 170, chelicera 330, claw 90 Mm, palp slender, with straight ventral margins of segments 2–4, P-2 with slightly protruding ventrodistal edge, P-4 2: 2: 1, sword seta between ventral hairs, segment measurements L/distal H: P-1 45/45, P-2 105/64, P-3 130/57, P-4 150/39, P-5 48/–.

Discussion: The description of A. semidistans was based on a single female, misshaped in the genital region. Husiatinschi considered it to be similar to A. distans in the setal interspace, but close to A. nodipalpis with regard to the shape and dimensions of palps and coxae. No further finds of, or comments on, this species have been published since then. My variability study on A. nodipalpis indicates that the interspace of A. semidistans lies within the range of variability of the stem species. All other available morphological details confirm that A. semidistans is a synonym of A. nodipalpis .