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 : 226-227

ATRACTIDES LOBATUS (SZALAY, 1935)

Megapus angustiporus lobatus Szalay, 1935a species dubia

Type series: Missing. Locus typicus: Körmöcbánya (Kom. Bars ) aus dem Bache Bisztrica von Dr. E. Dudich am 26.V.1933 gesammelt .

Description. Female (male unknown, original description): idiosoma L/W 667/583 Mm, contour line undulate due to symmetrically arranged indentations; integument finely striated [?], glandularia diameter about 20 Mm; coxal field L 358 Mm; I-L-5 dL 217, HB 82, S-1 L 100, S-2 L 83, setal interspace 38 (calculated from drawing), ratio dL/HB 3.5, ratio L S-1/2 1.20; I-L-6 dL 130, HB 17 Mm, ratio dL/HB 7.65, ratio dL I-L-5/6 1.67; genital field L/W 175/191 Mm, gonopore L 133, genital plates L 117 Mm; excretory pore smooth, Vgl-1 separate from Vgl-2; gnathosoma vL 133, chelicera basal segment 175, claw 75 Mm, ratio 2.33; palp segments L/H P-1 25/25, P-2 75/50, P-3 91/40, P-4 104/33, P-5 30/– (H taken at distal end of segment), total L 325 Mm; P-2 with ventral margin slightly protruding in its anterior part, sword seta of P-4 inserted halfway between proximal and distal ventral hairs.

Discussion: A. lobatus differs from the generally similar A. nodipalpis in the high total L of the palp and the relatively long I-L-5 (in A. nodipalpis maximum I-L-5/6 ratio 1.56). From Szalay’s figure 8 one can also deduce that the terminal segment of the first leg is more strongly thickened and narrowed distally than in the compared species. With regard to these characters, A. lobatus is similar to A. fonticolus , from which it differs in the integument structure and a less slen- der P-4. The reason for making this taxon a subspecies of A. angustiporus was probably the agreement in measurements of palps and I-L-5 and -6; Szalay does not discuss this. The only difference between A. lobatus and A. angustiporus mentioned in the original description is the name-giving undulate contour line of the idiosoma. Such a modification of the body shape is regularly found as an individual aberration and is of no taxonomic value. Thus, A. lobatus could be considered to be a synonym of A. angustiporus . However, the latter species is little known, and it would be impossible to provide a faunistic record of A. angustiporus based on a single female. By the loss of the type, A. lobatus became a species dubia of uncertain identity. Records of this taxon published since the original description ( Hungary: Szalay, 1941, 1946, 1949; Czech Republic: Láska, 1955b) do not include discussion of morphological features, and possibly refer to ‘lobate’ individuals from various species.

ATRACTIDES CISTERNARUM (K. VIETS, 1935)

( FIG. 39D–I )

Megapus cisternarum K. Viets, 1935a

Type series: Holotype ♂, SMF 4895 Atractides cisternarum ♂ (Viets) Type Jugoslawien Skoplje Brunnen 1934. State of conservation: good, idiosoma partly fractured, some details difficult to identify due to weak sclerotization and precipitations in the mounting medium; right I-L-4–6 separate, lateral, proximal apodemes of gnathosoma damaged; right palp separate, both palps and chelicerae clearly visible laterally, Gsk in situ.

Description:

General features dorsal integument: smooth; muscle attachments: unsclerotized; eyes: reduced coxal field: transparent, without porosity, low number of setae

I-L: I-L-5/6 little modified; I-L-5 with subparallel dorsal and ventral margins, S-1 and -2 similar in shape, slender, with obtusely truncate distal tip, narrow setal interspace; I-L-6 dL nearly straight, with dorsal and ventral margins equally diverging distally, maximum H at the claw furrow, claws strong genital field: Ac very small, oval excretory pore: sclerite ring; Vgl-1: fused to Vgl-2

palp: weak sexual dimorphism; all setae fine, neither flattened, nor enlarged, P-1 relatively short, ventrodistal margin P-2 convexly protruding, P-3 convex, P-4 3: 2: 2, proximoventral hair near a pointed denticle, distoventral hair shifted to the lateral surface, sword seta strong, proximally from the proximoventral hair

Male

Holotype genital field: oviform, anterior margin slightly indented, posterior margin nearly straight, setae restricted to the external margin of the plate; gonopore short and enlarged, restricted to the anterior 2/3 of the plate, Ac near the external margin of the plate; genital setae: 21

idiosoma L/W 430/290; glandularia 17

coxal field L 178; Cx-3 W 187; Cx-1 + 2 mL 54, IL 119, W 157

I-L-5 dL 116, vL 99, dL/vL 1.17, HA-HC 24, 26, 30, dL/HB 4.46

S-1 L 58, L/ W 14.5, S-2 L 62, L/ W 15.5, interspace 4, L S-1/2 0.94

I-L-6 L 105, HA-HC 20, 19, 23, dL/HB 5.53; L I-L-5/6 1.10

genital field L/W 73/67, Ac-1–3 L 13-11-13

gnathosoma –; chelicera L 175, L/H 4.86, bS/claw 1.78

Figures

Figure 39. A–C, Atractides diastema, ♀ (from Szalay, 1935). A, genital field; B, I-L-5 and -6; C, gnathosoma with chelicera and left palp, medial view; D–I, Atractides cisternarum; D, E, ♀ from Motaş et al. (1947), F–I, holotype ♂ SMF 4895. D, idiosoma, ventral view, partial view; E, palp, medial view; F, I-L-5 and -6; G, palp, medial view; H, coxal field; I, genital and postgenital field. For A–E, no magnification scale bars published, Scale bar for F–I = 100 mm.