Platymamersopsis comoros Smit & Pesic

Smit, Harry, Pesic, Vladimir & Mary-Sasal, Nathalie, 2009, New species of water mites from the Comoros (Acari: Hydrachnidia), Zootaxa 2213, pp. 47-56 : 48-50

Platymamersopsis comoros Smit & Pesic n. sp.

(Figs. 10–17)

Material examined. Holotype male, Mro oua Dembéni (Dembeni River), Mayotte, Comoros , downstream, 12°50'33,97" S 45°10'20,68" E, 17-v-2006, leg. N. Mary ( MNHN). Paratypes: male ( ZMAN), female ( MNHN), Mro oua Longoni (Longoni River), Mayotte, Comoros , 12°44'21,12" S 45°9'54,97" E, 14 May 2006, leg. N. Mary.

Diagnosis. Segments of fourth leg slender, IV-Leg-6 with two distal setae, claws of Legs I–III with comb, genital field relatively short, ridge of dorsal shield apically pointed.

Description. Male: Idiosoma egg-shaped, ventrally 478 (466) long, 340 (348) wide. Dorsal shield oval, with a slight indentation in the middle, 409 (397) long, 300 (300) wide. Ridge of dorsal shield pointed apically, posteriorly absent. Setae of dorsal glandularia slender. Anterior coxae extending beyond anterior margin of ventral shield. Coxoglandularia 2 located relatively far laterally, Coxoglandularia 4 located near anterior margin of Cx-III, relatively far laterally. Genital field relative short and rounded, 88 (86) long, 78 (78) wide. Genital field with three pairs of acetabula, acetabula without interspaces. Posterior margin of genital field extending beyond posterior margin of Cx-4. Setae of genital field not visible (or absent?). Setae of Vgl-1 posterior of genital field. Palp stocky, PII ventrally with one stout seta and dorsally with three setae (only one of these visible in illustrated palp), PIII dorsally with two setae, PV with a strong distal claw. Lengths of I- Leg-4–6: 64, 68, 60. First leg segments stocky, with few setae. All claws of holotype retracted in claw sheath (probably due to fixation in ethanol), but leg claws with comb, which is more visible in paratypes. Lengths of IV-Leg-4–6: 62, 74, 82. Fourth leg segments slender, IV-Leg-6 with two distal setae, one slightly larger than the other; none of the setae of fourth leg pectinate. Largest of distal setae of IV-Leg-6 32 (34) long.

Female: Similar to male, but differs in measurements. Idiosoma ventrally 510 long, 365 wide; dorsal shield 437 long, 316 wide. Genital field 114 long, 104 wide, with short interspaces between acetabula. Lengths of PI-PV: 16, 76, 24, 35, 24; palp as in male. Lengths of I-Leg-4–6: 60, 64, 52. Claws of Legs I–III with a comb. Lengths of IV-Leg-4–6: 68, 78, 88; heaviest of the distal seta of IV-Leg-6 32 long, smallest of distal setae of IV-Leg-6 bifurcate (but this might be an artefact).

Etymology. Named after the Comoros .

Remarks. Goldschmidt (2008) showed that leg characters are important for the identification of Platymamersopsis species. The new species has slender fourth leg segments and claws with a comb, characters shared with P. davecooki Goldschmidt, 2008 , P. palustris Goldschmidt, 2008 and P. spinalis Goldschmidt, 2008 (all from Madagascar), and P. m y s o re n s i s Cook, 1967 and P. adhika Cook, 1967 (from India). The new species differs from P. palustris in a more pointed dorsal ridge, from P. davecooki in less setose legs, from P. spinalis in the presence of only one distal seta of IV-Leg-6. The dorsal ridge of P. mysorensis and P. adhika is shaped differently, and in both species almost complete. Male and female of the FIGURES 10–15. Platymamersopsis comoros n. sp., (10–14 holotype male, 15 paratype female): 10 = dorsal view; 11 = ventral view; 12 = palp; 13 = I-Leg-4-6; 14 = IV-Leg-4-6; 15 = genital field. Scale = 50 µm. new species are very similar, and differ only in measurements. As in other Platymamersopsis species, no genital skeleton could be seen in the males. Males differ from females in having a smaller and more rounded genital field.