Atractides (Atractides) nodipalpis (Thor, 1899)

Pešić, Vladimir, Zawal, Andrzej, Ferreira, Sónia, Benitez-Bosco, Laura, Cruz-Oliveira, Ana, Girão, Dinis, Padilha, Adriana, Turaccio, Paolo, Rossini, Samantha, Ballini, Lorenzo, Staffoni, Giorgia, Fratini, Sara, Ciofi, Claudio, Iannucci, Alessio, Ekrem, Torbjørn & Stur, Elisabeth, 2024, DNA barcode library of Portuguese water mites, with the descriptions of two new species (Acari, Hydrachnidia), ZooKeys 1217, pp. 119-171 : 119-171

Atractides (Atractides) nodipalpis (Thor, 1899)

Material examined.

Portugal, Guarda • Seia, Rio Alva, Praia fluvial de Vila Cova a Coelheira , river, 40.379°N, 7.736°W, 312 m a.s.l., 23 Aug. 2023, leg. Ferreira, Benitez-Bosco & Padilha, 1 ♀ (sequenced) .

Remarks.

The female, which keyed to A. nodipalpis following Gerecke et al. (2016), forms a unique BIN ( BOLD: AFV 2009). The BIN is placed as sister to BOLD: ACR 0209, which includes> 200 specimens of A. nodipalpis , available in the BOLD database. The p - distance between these two BINs was estimated at 4.61 %.

For a long time, A. nodipalpis has been considered the most common species of the genus in Europe. However, in the last years, genetic data revealed that the latter species consists of several distinct lineages, some of them present in the same areas ( Gerecke et al. 2022; Pešić et al. 2023 d). For example, Gerecke et al. (2022) mentioned that Norwegian specimens keyed as A. nodipalpis belong to two different lineages, both widely distributed in Norway. The taxonomic status of most of these lineages is still unclear as a number of species have been proposed as synonyms of A. nodipalpis in the past. Nevertheless, Gerecke and collaborators (Gerecke pers. comm. 2022) recently clarified the correct BIN assignment of the true A. nodipalpis lineage. They found that specimens of A. nodipalpis collected near its type locality in Norway belong to the BOLD: ACR 0209 cluster. After that, Pešić et al. (2023 d) examined specimens from the Netherlands belonging to BOLD: ACR 0209 and found that A. nodipalpis can be defined primarily by the shape of male genital plate which has a distinct anteromedial peg-like fissure.

Distribution.

Based on the available records in BOLD, A. nodipalpis has a wide distribution, from SE Europe over the Fennoscandia up to Greenland. In Portugal previously reported from Beira Alta (Santa Comba Dão; Lundblad 1956).