Sotropalpus, Goldschmidt, 2008

Goldschmidt, Tom, 2008, Taxonomical, ecological and zoogeographical studies on anisitsiellid water mites (Acari: Hydrachnidia: Anisitsiellidae Koenike, 1910) from Madagascar, Zootaxa 1954 (1), pp. 1-120 : 69-70

Sotropalpus gen. nov.

Typus generis: Sotropalpus manga gen. nov. sp. nov.

Derivatio nominis: Sotro (Malagasy) — spoon; palpus (Latin) — palp; referring to the characteristic shape of the distal palp segments.

Diagnosis: Idiosoma oval; dorsal plate large, elongated with one pair of gland openings (without setae) and the post-ocular setae; all other dorsoglandularia and lateroglandularia on mid-sized platelets in wide dorsal furrow; integument coarsely lined; lateral eyes separated on each side, free under integument; ventral shield complete; Cx-I medially fused; Cxgl-2 at caudal margin of Cx-II, Cxgl-4 approximate to caudal margin of Cx-III; suture between Cx-III and Cx-IV incomplete; Cx-IV relatively small; insertion of leg-IV lateral to genital field, covered by flat condyles; genital bay narrow anteriorly, diverging caudally; genital field elongated-trapezoid, with three pairs of oval acetabula, caudally surpassing genital bay; Vgl-1 and -3 near caudal margin of Cx-IV, Vgl-2 and -4 lateral to excretory pore at caudal margin of ventral shield; legs without swimming hairs, short, compact; with strong setae; leg-I to -III bear heavy claws (especially leg-III) with one large dorsal and ventral clawlet, leg-IV-6 without claws, terminal with two heavy setae; capitulum short, coneshaped; P4 distally together with P5 spoon-shaped.

Remarks: The new genus is unique in the combination of a large dorsal plate only including one pair of glands (without setae), heavy distal claws on legs-I to -III and the spoon-shaped distal part of the palps. The legs-IV ending in two large and one mid-sized setae are most similar to the character state in the subgenus Dartonia (genus Nilotonia ).