Wandesia (Wandesia) albertii, Pešić & Smit, 2018

Pešić, Vladimir & Smit, Harry, 2018, A checklist of the water mites of Central Asia with description of six new species (Acari, Hydrachnidia) from Kyrgyzstan, Acarologia 58 (1), pp. 165-185 : 169

Wandesia (Wandesia) albertii n. sp. ( Figure 1 )

Zoobank: B8E7A868-F8ED-45A1-827E-3A8ECBB9C723

Type material — Holotype female ( RMNH), Kyrgyzstan, KR15 Karakal region , road to May Saz Pass, fast flowing river, 42°25.004’N, 78°58.100’E, 2981 m asl., 12.vii.2013, leg. Pešić & Smit, dissected and slide mounted.

Diagnosis — Female (Male unknown). Idiosoma small (L 1500 μm); Cx-IV reduced, with medial part not reaching medial part of Cx-III; P-4 slender, L/H ratio 3.7; P-5 without a flagellar seta; basal segment of chelicera curved; no visible pairs of setae inserting in the membranous integument around gonopore; Ac-1 much smaller than posterior pairs of acetabula; III-L-6 and IV-L-6 distally slightly enlarged.

Description — Female — Body elongated; lateral eyes unpigmented; integument reticulated. Cx-I+II with slightly convex medial margin, broadly rounded medioposteriorly, posterolaterally concave; Cx-III with broad medial edge; Cx-IV reduced ( Figure 1A ); Cx-I with three setae; Cx-II without setae; Cx-III and Cx-IV with one seta each. Genital field with three pairs of stalked elongated genital acetabula; distance between Ac-1 and Ac-2 three times longer than between Ac-2 and Ac-3 ( Figure 1E ); gonopore between first pairs of acetabula. Palp ( Figures 1 B-C): P-1 without setae; P-2 with one strong distal seta; P-3 with two slender dorsodistal setae; P-4 with large dorsodistal spine and one thin distal seta, ventral seta short, in distal third. Legs: III-L-6 and IV-L-6 distally slightly enlarged; claws simple hook-like.

Measurements — Idiosoma L 1494, W 363; Cx-I+II total L 116, W 78, Cx-III+IV lateral L 128; Ac-1 L 14, L/W ratio 1.13; Ac-2 L 27, L/W ratio 1.4, Ac-3 L 34, L/W ratio 1.59.

Gnathosoma — palp total L 230; dL/H, dL/H ratio: P-1, 19/30, 0.63; P-2, 50/34, 1.49; P-3, 49/36, 1.37; P-4, 89/24, 3.7; P-5, 23/12, 2.0; L ratio P-2/P-4 0.56. Gnathosomal base vL 125; chelicera total L 172, basal segment L 130, claw L 44, L basal segment/claw ratio 3.0.

Legs — dL of I-L: 42, 63, 80, 91, 102, 109. dL of II-L: 41, 63, 69, 88, 100, 114. dL of III-L: 43, 52, 63, 77, 91, 106. dL of IV-L: 38, 68, 81, 92, 100, 100.

Discussion — The new species is morphologically most similar to Wandesia reducta , a species described by Tuzovskij (1987) based on three females and a larva from Magadan region in the Far East of Russia and later on reported by Pešić et al. (2015) from South Korea. Recently Semenchenko (2016) described the male of this species. Both species share P-5 without a flagellar seta and Cx-IV reduced, with the medial part not reaching the medial part of Cx-III. The female of W. reducta (in parentheses data taken from Tuzovskij 1987) differs in larger idiosoma dimensions (L 2280-2610 μm), the genital field with 3-5 pairs of small setae located around the anterior half of gonopore, P-4 shorter (L 65μm) and stouter, and III-L-6 and IV-L-6 distally strongly enlarged (see Tuzovskij 1987, figure 3I).

Etymology — In remembrance of our colleague Prof. Gerd Alberti (1943-2016).

Distribution — Kyrgyzstan; known only from the locus typicus ( Figure 10E ).

Figures

Figure 1 Wandesia albertii n. sp., female holotype: A – coxal and genital field; B – palp, medial view; C – palp, lateral view; D – chelicere; E – acetabula (Ac-1-3, from left to right); F – I-Leg; G – II-Leg; H – III-Leg; I – IV-Leg. Scale = 100 μm.

Figure 10 Photographs of sampling sites: A – KR3, Ala Archa NP, spring outlet (locus typicusof Atractides alaarchaensis n. sp.); B – KR32, stream near Son Kul lake (locus typicusof Atractides sonkulensisn. sp.); C – KR10, spring in Grigorievka canyon (locus typicusof Atractides grigorievkan. sp.); D – KR8, Chon-Kemin NP, upper part of stream near Ashu resort (locus typicusof Torrenticola kyrgyzican. sp.); E – KR15, river on the road to May Saz Pass (locus typicusof Wandesia albertii n. sp.); F – KR22, stream in Karakal region (locus typicusof Atractides manasi n. sp.); G – KR23, rheohelocrenic spring in Karakal region (sampling site of Atractides grigorievkan. sp.); H – KR31, river near Son Kol Lake (sampling site of Atractides sonkulensisn. sp.).