Limnohalacarus cultellatus Viets, 1940

Bartsch, I., 2013, Freshwater Halacarid Mites (Acari: Halacaridae) From Madagascar. New Records And The Description Of A New Species, Acarologia 53 (1), pp. 77-87 : 78-79

Limnohalacarus cultellatus Viets, 1940

Collecting data — One female (slide), ZMH, northern Madagascar, Antisiranana , Antalaha , Marofinaritra , River Andranomenaheli, upstream confluence with River Ankavia (right affluent below MD 135 ), 70 m, 22.3°C, 0.009 mS/cm, riffle; 04 Nov. 2001; coll. R. Gerecke and T. Goldschmidt .

Diagnosis (female, Madagascar individual) — Idiosoma pale, its length 274 µm. Dorsal plates with reticulate ornamentation. Anteriormost part of anterior dorsal plate smooth and separated from reticulate major part; anterior dorsal plate rectangular, 1.1 times longer than wide. Ocular plates sub-circular, 1.1 times longer than wide. Sclerite with gland pore triangular, not fused with ocular plate. Posterior dorsal plate elongate, 1.7 times longer than wide and 2.4 times longer than anterior dorsal plate. With four pairs of dorsal setae, second pair of setae in striated integument between anterior dorsal plate and ocular plates; adanal setae on anal cone, in ventrolateral position. Ventral plates (anterior, pair of posterior epimeral plates and genital plate) separated. Genital plate with four to five pairs of acetabula, three pairs of perigenital and two pairs of subgenital setae. Gnathosoma 1.7 times longer than wide. Rostrum slender. Both pairs of maxillary setae slender. Pharyngeal plate removed from basal margin of gnathosoma by more than half the length of pharyngeal plate. Second palpal segment basally abruptly increased in height; its dorsal margin straight. Telofemora I to III 1.8-1.9 times longer than high. Leg chaetotaxy, from trochanter to tarsus: leg I, 1, 4, 4, 6, 7, 5; leg II, 1, 3, 4, 6, 6, 4; leg III, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 4; leg IV, 1, 1, 3, 3, 6, 3. Ventromedial seta on tibia I and II and both ventromedial setae on tibia III bipectinate, all other setae smooth. All tarsi with pair of single parambulacral setae. Each claw with lamellar ventral process. Claws on tarsus I slender, with about eight delicate tines near apex. Claws of following tarsi with J-shaped arranged pectines, each with about 15 – 18 tines.

Distribution — Records are from North, Central and South America, from Europe ( Hungary) and India ( Bartsch 2011b, 2013).