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 : 224

ATRACTIDES PARVIPORUS ( BESSELING, 1933)

Megapus parviporus Besseling, 1933

Syn. to A. nodipalpis Thor, 1899 : Lundblad, 1962

Type series: Lectotype ♂, here designated, Coll. Besseling 543 b.42 Leigraaf Heesewyk Atract. nod . parv., undissected in a separate vial. Paralectotypes: same label as lectotype, 2/2/0 slide-mounted in Hoyer’s fluid, 20/13/ 1 in vial.

Material examined: coll. Besseling, 617 b. 43 Gr. Wetering Knathoven several specimens labelled as A. nod . parviporus , preserved together with A. nodipalpis and other water mite species.

Discussion: In his paper on the variation in A. nodipalpis, Besseling separated his material into groups of specimens with larger acetabula (e.g. ♂ Ac-1: 55–42, Ac-2: 61–44, Ac-3: 83–61 Mm) and smaller acetabula (♂ Ac-1: 42–31, Ac-2: 42–30, Ac-3: 61–47 Mm). It is noticeable that these values obviously grade into each other. As this character is not correlated with any other morphological peculiarity, it probably represents only an extended range of variability within one single species. Lundblad (1962) was obviously right when he proposed (but without any discussion) the synonymization of A. nodipalpis parvipora with A. nodipalpis nodipalpis .

ATRACTIDES DENTIPALPIS ( WALTER, 1935)

( FIG. 38E–G )

Megapus dentipalpis Walter, 1935

Type series: Missing (not preserved at NHMB); locus typicus: Algeria Tlemcen (Department Oran) grosser Wasserfall , Ende April , 1929, 2 ♀ .

Material examined: SMF 7182 ♀, Algérie, Tala Guilef 3.5.51 Vaillant coll.

Description:

General features

Male unknown dorsal integument: striated (6/10); muscle attachments: unsclerotized

I-L: I-L-5 with nearly parallel dorsal and ventral margins, S-1 and -2 rodshaped, short, with blunt tips,

closely together, I-L-6 short and stout, equally thickened from the base to the claw furrow, claw strong genital field: Ac in a weakly curved line excretory pore: smooth; Vgl-1: not fused to Vgl-2

palp: see below

Females

SMF 7182 genital field: genital plates bean-shaped, with slightly convex medial margin,

Ac subtriangular palp: P-2 ventrodistally with a small, medial extension bearing 4–5 pointed dents, separated by a short longitudinal pit from the rounded lateral edge of the segment; P-4 2: 3: 2, ventral margin nearly straight, small protruding denticles near hair insertions, sword seta between ventral hairs idiosoma L/W 560/450; glandularia 30 coxal field L 285; Cx-3 W 350; Cx-1 + 2 mL 94, IL 224, W 275 I-L-5 dL 123, vL 100, dL/vL 1.23, HA-HC 36, 40, 45 dL/HB 3.08 S-1 L 39, L/ W 7.8, S-2 L 37, L/ W 7.4, interspace 1, L S-1/2 1.05 I-L-6 L 105, HA-HC 31, 33, 37, dL/HB 3.18; L I-L-5/6 1.17 genital field L/W 135/153, Ac-1–3 L 29-34-34 gnathosoma–; chelicera L 240, L/H 4.62, bS/claw 2.24

Figures

Figure 38. A–D, Atractides subterraneus. A–C, holotype ♂ D, ♀ Skoplje 1936, Karaman; A, ♂ I-L-5 and -6; B, ♂ palp, medial view; C, ♂ idiosoma, ventral view; D, ♀ genital field. E–G, Atractides dentipalpis ♀ SMF 7182 Algeria, coll. Vaillant. E, coxal and genital field; F, palp, medial view; G, I-L-5 and -6. Scale bars = 100 µm.