Atractides (Atractides) ermani, Esen & Pešić, 2024

Esen, Yunus & Pešić, Vladimir, 2024, Contributions to the knowledge of the water mite fauna (Acariformes, Hydrachnidia) of Türkiye with descriptions of two new species, Acarological Studies 6 (1), pp. 24-33 : 26-28

Atractides (Atractides) ermani sp. nov.

https://zoobank.org/ 6E34FF3B-DB83-4486-9E1A-284643349C33

Type material: Holotype: male, dissected and slide mount- ed in Hoyer’s fluid; Elazığ province ( Türkiye), Alacakaya district, Halkalı village, spring and low order streams, 38°32'44" N, 39°56'22" E, 1507 m a.s.l., 12.07.2020, leg. Esen. Paratype, same data as holotype , ibid., 23.08.2020 (1/0/0) .

Diagnosis (male): Integument finely striated, muscle attachment unsclerotized. Coxal field: posterior margin Cx- 1+2 slightly protruding. Genital field wider than long, L/W ratio 0.68-0.69, with acetabula in triangular arrangement, genital plate posterior margin indented. Excretory pore sclerotized; Vgl-1 not fused to Vgl-2. P-2 with strongly developed ventrodistal protrusion with a few pointed dents, P-4 sword seta halfway between ventral setae; I-L slightly modified, I-L-5 with S-1 and S-2 rod-shaped, with blunt tips, close together. I-L-6 short and stout, weakly curved.

Description: Male (measurements of paratype given in parentheses): Length of idiosoma 410 (393), width 352 (344). Dorsally integument is finely striated. Muscle attachments, unsclerotized. Dgl-3 length 30 (29). Coxal field ( Fig. 1A ); posterior margin Cx-1+2 medially slightly protruding, with large protruding apodemes, coxal field length 312 (297), Cx-3 width 310 (305), Cx-1+2 width 258 (255), Cx-1+2 medial suture line 112 (110) in length; distance from lateralmost tips of Cx-2 to the medioposterior edge of Cx-1+2 216 (210). Measurements of mouthparts: chelicera 207 (200) in length, claw 57 (55) in length; palp total length 270 (265), dorsal length of single segments; P-1 31 (30), P-2 65 (65), P-3 64 (62), P-4 80 (78), P-5 30 (30); relative length (% total length) of single segments: P-1 11.5 (11.3), P-2 24.1 (24.5), P-3 23.7 (23.4), P-4 29.6 (29.4), P-5 11.1 (11.3); ratio length P-2/P-4 is 0.81 (0.83), P-3 39 (38), P-4 32 (31) in height; palp ( Figs 1B , 2A ): P-2 ventrodistally strongly protruding, with 2-3 pointed dents, P-3 straight, P-4 strongly thickened, well developed denticle near each ventral hair insertion, divided by ventral setae in sectors 2:1:1, sword seta halfway between ventral hairs. Genital field: L/W 95 (90) / 139 (130), Ac-1-3 length 40 (34), 38 (35), 34 (28).

I-L ( Figs 1C , 2B ): little modified, I-L-5 slightly enlarged distally, S-1 and S-2 very close to each other, short, blunt and similar in shape; I-L-6 short, thickened and weakly curved; I-L-5 dL 127 (125), HA 30 (29), HB 40 (40), vL 101 (100); S-1 41 (40), S-2 37 (35) in length; I-L-6 112 (108) in length, central H 36 (35); ratio dL I-L-5/I-L-6 1.13 (1.16).

Female and immature stages: Unknown.

Remarks: Due to the strongly projected ventrodistal protrusion on P-2 and similar morphology of I-L (I-L-5 with short, equally rod-shaped sword setae and the stout, slightly modified I-L-6), the male of new species resembles Atractides dentipalpis ( Walter, 1935) and A. turcicus Aşçı, 2009 .

Atractides dentipalpis was originally described from Algeria on the basis of a female specimen ( Walter, 1935). Lat- er, Boyacı (2007) reported A. dentipalpis from Isparta, Türkiye on the basis of both female and male sexes, and presented the first description of the male. Compared with the female specimens from Isparta, assigned by Boyacı (2007) to A. dentipalpis , the female holotype from Algeria clearly differs in less projected ventrodistal projection on P-2, comparatively more stouter palpal segments, and the presence of an unpaired sclerite between Cx-IV and genital field (see Gerecke 2003). It is likely that specimens reported and illustrated by Boyacı (2007) are not conspecific with A. dentipalpis , a species that is currently known with certainty only from Algeria. The shape of palp and I-L in specimens described by Boyacı (2007) show general conformity with the male specimens from Elazığ, which are described here as a new species. The difference was found in a male genital plate being wider than long, and with indented posterior margin in the new species (vs. genital plate longer than wider, with nearly straight posterior margin in male specimen from Isparta (see Boyacı, 2007). A more detailed comparison of males is made in table 1. Further sampling was needed to test variability to determine whether these populations in Isparta and Elazığ were conspecific.

Atractides turcicus was described by Aşçı (2009) on the basis of a male and female collected in a stream at the Rize Province in the eastern Black Sea coast of Türkiye. The holotype of this species may be missing, is it not found at Zoology Museum of Atatürk University (Erzurum, Türkiye). According to the original description, Aşçı (2009) stated that presence of pointed sword setae on I- L-5, makes A. turcicus most similar to A. subterraneaus , which can easily be separated by the characteristic shape of genital field, and palp without distinct protrusion on P- 2 ( Gerecke, 2003). Based on the original description, A. turcicus differs from the new species (in parentheses) in the setae S-1 and -2 with pointed tips (sword setae rod-shaped, with blunt tips), P-2 ventrodistal projection covered by a fine denticles (P-2 extension with 2-3 pointed dents) and a comparatively less wider genital plate (see Aşçı, 2009).

Etymology: The species is named in honour of Professor Orhan Erman (Fırat University, Elazığ, Türkiye) in appreciation of his studies on the Turkish water mites.

Biology: Atractides ermani sp. nov. is a crenobiontic species, which inhabits springs.

Figures

Figure 1. Atractides (Atractides) ermani sp. nov. (male). A. Idiosoma, ventrally, B. Palp, medial view, C. I-L (Scale bars=100).

Figure 2. Atractides (Atractides) ermani sp. nov. male. A. Gnathosoma, B. I-L-5-6 (Scale bars = 100).