Minyaturus, Smit & Pešić, 2020

Smit, Harry & Pešić, Vladimir, 2020, New records of water mites from New Zealand, with the description of three new genera and ten new species (Acari: Hydrachnidia), Acarologia 60 (4), pp. 903-950 : 932

Minyaturus n. gen.

Zoobank: 29BB87F8-B3C9-42B4-90DB-B041561C4B3A

Diagnosis. Dorsum with two unpaired plates and two pairs of platelets, anterolateral platelets each with one glandularium, a “free” pair of glandularia present between posterior unpaired plate and the lateral platelets; the pair of glandularia between insertion of fourth legs and genital field closer to genital field; male gonopore trilobed.

Type species: Minyaturus minutulus n. sp.

Etymology. Named for its small size, from the Greek minys.

Remarks. The new genus shares many characters with Pseudotryssaturus , like the dorsum with one pair of free glandularia. Pseudotryssaturus species usually have a ridge extending posteriorly from the insertion of the fourth leg (lacking in the new genus), although some species have a very short ridge or a ridge is lacking. Most Pseudotryssaturus species have the dorsum with some sort of ornamentation, but, as in the new genus, some species lack such ornamentation. But all male Pseudotryssaturus species have an ellipsoid or rounded gonopore, unlike the trilobed gonopore of the new species. Moreover, the idiosoma shape of Pseudotryssaturus species is elongated and not broad and tapering posteriorly as in the new genus. The pair of glandularia between the insertion of the fourth legs and the genital field are located halfway, and not closer to the genital field.