Torrenticola laskai Di Sabatino, 2009

Pešić, Vladimir & Goldschmidt, Tom, 2023, New DNA-assisted records of water mites from Sardinia, with the description of a new species (Acari, Hydrachnidia), Ecologica Montenegrina 69, pp. 24-44 : 34

Torrenticola laskai Di Sabatino, 2009

Material examined — ITALY, Sardinia, Comune di Muravera, It 2021-1d, Riu Ollastu, N of SS 125 between San Priamo and San Gregorio, stream, interstitial near riffle, 39.3552° N, 9.4739° E, 46 m asl., 8. Aug. 2021, leg. Goldschmidt 1 ♂, 2 ♀ (sequenced; voucher IDs: CCDB 41824 E12, CCDB 41824 F10, CCDB-44301-H11) .

Remarks — The specimens from Sardinia used in this study for molecular analysis match the description of Torrenticola laskai , a species described from Corsica ( Di Sabatino et al. 2009). Recently the status of that species has been questioned by Pešić & Smit (2022c). They barcoded specimens of T. laskai from Corsica, and showed the presence of two highly supported clades (TL-Gp1 and TL-Gp2 sensu Pešić & Smit 2022c) with a COI divergence estimated at 11.04 ± 1.46% K2P ( Pešić & Smit 2022c).

In our study, we obtained two BINs among the T. laskai specimens from Sardinia. One sequenced female from Riu Ollastu falls into BIN cluster (BOLD:AEO1170), which in addition to the specimen used in this study for molecular analysis, includes two specimens from Corsica assigned to the T. laskai -Gp2 clade. According to Pešić & Smit (2022c) in regard to the similarity in size and shape of the ejaculatory complex, the T. laskai -Gp2 clade corresponds with the nominal species. Furthermore, two specimens from the same sampling site form a unique BIN (BOLD:AET4248) with the p -distance to BOLD:AEO1170 estimated at 3.2 %.