Neoatractides (Allotorrenticola) tashiwangmoi Pešić, Smit & Gurung, 2022

Pešić, Vladimir, Smit, Harry, Sharma, Neha, Bahuguna, Pankaj & Rayal, Rajesh, 2022, First description of the male of Neoatractides tashiwangmoi Pešić, Smit & Gurung, 2022 from the Indian Himalayas (Acariformes, Hydrachnidia, Torrenticolidae), Ecologica Montenegrina 57, pp. 32-36 : 34-35

Neoatractides (Allotorrenticola) tashiwangmoi Pešić, Smit & Gurung, 2022

Fig. 1

Material examined — India, Uttarakhand State, 30°23'56.166"N, 78°8'0.2184"E, spring fed- Sahastradhara stream, 16 Oct. 2020, leg. Neha Sharma, 1♂ dissected and slide mounted ( RMNH) .

Description. Male — Idiosoma oval; dorsal shield without a colour pattern; area of primary sclerotization of the dorsal plate with four dorsoglandularia; gnathosomal bay U-shaped, proximally rounded; Cxgl–4 anterior to Cxgl-2 and located adjacent to II-Leg insertion; medial suture line of Cx-II+III relatively short; suture lines of Cx-IV distinctly extending posteriorly beyond posterior margin of genital field; excretory pore and Vgl–2 close to the line of primary sclerotization, excretory pore on the level of Vgl–2; gnathosoma with a slightly curved ventral margin, rostrum relatively slender ( Fig. 1C ), cheliceral claw very large; P-2 proportionally very long; ventral margin of P-2 and P-3 each with a moderately long seta, but without developed projections; P-4 and P-5 proportionally very short ( Figs. 1 D-E).

Measurements — Idiosoma (ventral view: Fig. 1B ) L 595, W 445; dorsal shield ( Fig. 1A ) L 484, W 359, L/W ratio 1.35; dorsal plate L 453; shoulder plate L 144, W 52-56, L/W ratio 1.6-2.8; frontal plate L 117-120, W 42-44, L/W ratio 2.7-2.9; shoulder/frontal plate L 1.2-1.23. Gnathosomal bay L 83, Cx-I total L 228, Cx-I mL 145, Cx-II+III mL 68; ratio Cx-I L/Cx-II+III mL 3.35; Cx-I mL/Cx-II+III mL 2.1. Genital field L/W 125/103, ratio 1.21; distance genital field-excretory pore 130, genital field-caudal idiosoma margin 172. Ejaculatory complex L 177. Gnathosoma vL 291, chelicera L 308; dL/H, dL/H ratio: P-1, 27/43, 0.62; P-2, 70/31, 2.3; P-3, 30/23, 1.28; P-4, 19/19, 1.0; P-5, 15/16, 0.94; L ratio P-2/P-4 3.7. dL of I-L-5-6: 75, 92; I-L-6 H 38; dL/H I-L-6 ratio 2.5.

Remarks — The male from Uttarakhand generally matches the description of Neoatractides tashiwangmoi , a species described on basis of a single female collected in a stream in Bhutan at an altitude of 539 m ( Pešić et al. 2022a). In India, a single male was collected in a sandy/bouldary stream ( Fig. 2 ) at an altitude of 908 m together with Sperchon gracilipalpis Lundblad, 1941 , and three other torrenticolid species, i.e., Monatractides cf. oxystomus (K. Viets, 1945) , Torrenticola kumari Pešić & Smit, 2020 and Torrenticola birmana (Lundblad, 1941) (see Pešić et al. 2022b in press).

Figures

Figure 1. Neoatractides tashiwangmoi, ♂, Sahastradhara stream, India: A – dorsal shield; B – ventral shield; C – gnathosoma; D – palp, medial view (P-1 lacking); E – palp, lateral view (P-1 lacking); F – I-L-5 and -6. Scale bars = 100 µm.

Figure 2. Photograph of sampling site of Neoatractides tashiwangmoi in India (Sahastradhara stream). Photo by Neha Sharma.