Torrenticola cf. turkestanica ( Sokolow, 1926 )

PešićK, Vladimir, K, Harry Smit & K, Mer Man Gurung, 2022, Torrenticolid water mites of Bhutan. Genera Torrenticola Piersig, 1896 and Neoatractides Lundblad, 1941 (Acari: Hydrachnidia: Torrenticolidae), Acarologia 1941 (3), pp. 821-860 : 833-836

Torrenticola cf. turkestanica ( Sokolow, 1926)

Figures 6C, 9

Material examined — Bhutan, MG 1 Maidagang Chhu, 27.12761°N, 90.71560°E, 554 m asl, 20.x.2021, 1♂ (dissected and slide mounted); MG 4 Takabi Chhu, 27.14782°N, 90.68833°E,

543 m asl, 26.x.2021, 7♂ (1♂ dissected and slide mounted); MG 5 Dakpay Chhu, 27.14621°N, 90.69220°E, 539 m asl, 27.x.2021, 5♂, 4♀ (1♂ dissected and slide mounted); MG 5 Dakpay Chhu, 27.14621°N, 90.69220°E, 539 m asl, 1.v.2021 5♂, 1♀

Description — General features – Idiosoma oval; dorsal shield with a colour pattern as illustrated in Figures 9 A-C; gnathosomal bay U-shaped, proximally pointed; Cxgl-4 subapical; posterior suture lines of Cx-IV medially starting from the genital field at a 45°angle to main idiosoma axis, distinctly extending posteriorly beyond posterior margin of genital field; excretory pore and Vgl-2 well away from the line of primary sclerotization, excretory pore on the level of Vgl-2; ejaculatory complex conventional, with well-developed anterior keel and distal and proximal arms ( Figure 9J); gnathosoma with a curved ventral margin ( Figure 9L); P-2 and P-3 with a subrectangular ventrodistal projection, P-2 ventral seta relatively long, P-4 stocky with a well-developed ventral tubercle ending in two tips separated by a concavity, bearing one longer and three shorter setae ( Figure 6C). Male (measurements of one specimen from Maidagang Chhu; in parentheses measurements T ofcf.. turkestanica from Uttarakhand, India, from Pešić et al. 2019a) – Idiosoma L 606 (656), W 463 (486); medial suture Cx-II+III

L 81 (94); genital field L/W 147 (145)/113 (116); L P-2 (83), P-4 (88).

Remarks — The examined specimens from Bhutan generally match the description T of.

cf. turkestanica from Uttarakhand state of India ( Pešić et al. 2019a). As mentioned by the latter authors, the assignment of populations from Uttarakhand to T. turkestanica , a species originally described from Tajikistan ( Sokolow 1926) is still provisional, based “mainly on the approved non-identity with alternative species” (Pesic et al. 2007), and should be “tested with the application of molecular techniques in case data are available from the type locality.” ( Pesic et al. 2019a: 1871). Therefore, the same conclusion applies also to populations from Bhutan.

Specimens from Thailand, provisionally assigned by Pesic and Smit (2009) to T. turkestanica , were described recently as a separate species, i.e. T. rangareddyi Pešić &

Smit, 2019, differing from the former species by an elongated gnathosomal rostrum and a shorter ventral seta on P-2 ( Pešić et al. 2019a).

Distribution — India (Uttarakhand ; Pešić et al. 2019a); Bhutan (this study).