Notohygrobates kathrynae Cook, 1983

Smit, Harry, 2019, New and rare species of hyporheic water mites from New Zealand (Acari: Hydrachnidia: Aturidae, Momoniidae with the description of two new genera, one new subgenus and one new species, Acarologia 59 (3), pp. 364-373 : 365

Notohygrobates kathrynae Cook, 1983

( Figure 1 A-D)

Material examined — 1/0/0, Tributary of Urarima Stream , interstitial, north of Coromandel Town, North Island, New Zealand, 36°34.812’ S 175°24.554’ E, alt. 12 m asl, 21-1-2019, leg. H. Smit ( RMNH) ; 0/1/0, Elliot Creek , interstitial, Aorere Valley, South Island, New Zealand, 40°49.897’ S 172°28.309’ E, alt. 110 m asl, 8-1-2019, leg. H. Smit ( RMNH) .

Description — Male: The male matches the description given by Cook (1983), and here only measurements are given: Ventral length 545, dorsal length 510, width 332.

Female: Idiosoma 680 long and 486 wide, ventrally 688 long. Lateral eyes absent. Integument papillate. Dorsum with a large anterior plate, with one pair of glandularia and the preocularia, two pairs of muscle attachments and seven pairs of glandularia, the posterolateral pair enlarged. Coxae as described by Cook (1983) for the male, with a large area of secondary sclerotization lateral to Cx-III and Cx-IV. Genital field with three pairs of glandularia, one of the anterior acetabula divided (probably an individual aberration); genital plates 106 long. Pre- and postgenital sclerites large. Length of P1-P5: 26, 78, 74, 82, 28; palp as in male. Length of I-leg-4-6: 116, 118, 102. Length of IV-leg-4-6: 159, 168, 142. Legs as in male, but I-leg-5 distally with a thin seta reaching to middle of I-leg-6. Excretory pore sclerotized, near posterior idiosoma margin.

Remarks — Thus far, one male only was known from North Island, New Zealand. This male was 486 long and thus smaller than the male of this study. A character not mentioned by Cook (1983) is the papillate integument. The female is described here for the first time. Apart from the genital field, it is similar to the male. Differences concern the pair of glandularia fused with the anterior dorsal plate (in the male free in the integument).

Figures

Figure 1 Notohygrobates kathrynae Cook: A – male, dorsum; B – female, dorsum; C – female, venter; D – female, I-leg-5-6. Scale bars = 50 µm.