Atractides (Atractides) yazdensis, Pešić & Smit & Saboori, 2021

Pešić, Vladimir, Smit, Harry & Saboori, Alireza, 2021, New records of the water mite genus Atractides Koch, 1837 from Iran (Acari: Hydrachnidia: Hygrobatidae), Ecologica Montenegrina 44, pp. 1-10 : 7

Atractides (Atractides) yazdensis sp. nov.

https://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:753AFA49-8804-442B-8E2F-430F342750E7

Fig. 5

Synonymy. Atractides gibberipalpis Pešić et al. 2004b nec Piersig, 1898.

Type material — Holotype ♂, dissected and slide mounted ( RMNH), Iran: IR39 Yazd Province, Deh Bala , 60 km SW from Yazd, 05.08.2003, leg. Pešić & Saboori. Paratypes: 1♂, dissected and slide mounted ( RMNH), same data as the holotype, leg. Pešić & Saboori.

Diagnosis (Female unknown) — P-2 and P-3 ventrally each with a distinct protrusion; P-4 sword seta slightly proximal to posteroventral hair; genital plate anterior margin straight or slightly concave; Ac smaller, Ac-3 L ˂ 40, Ac-3 subtriangular, not drop-shaped; seta S-1 not pointed, apically truncated.

Description. Male — Integument striated, muscle insertions unsclerotized; mediocaudal margin Cx-I slightly concave, apodemes of Cx-II in an acute angle with the median line. Genital plate anterior margin straight or slightly concave, posterior margin indented, Ac in an obtuse triangle, subtriangular in shape ( Figs. 5 D-E). Excretory pore smooth; Vgl-1 not fused to Vgl-2. P-2 and P-3 ventrally each with a distinct ventral extension, P-4 stocky, ventral setae not exceeding the length of the segment, P-4 sword seta slightly proximal to posteroventral hair ( Fig. 5B ). I-L-5 setae S-1 and S-2 separated, S-1 curved, with concave adaxial margin, apically truncated and with a fine distomedial extension, S-2 proximally enlarged; I-L-6 long and slender, curved, proximally slightly thickened, with parallel dorsal and ventral margins from the centre to the claw pit ( Fig. 5C ).

Measurements. Male (holotype; in parentheses some measurements of the paratype) — Idiosoma L 572 (580); maximum diameter Dgl-3, 25. Coxal shield L 322; Cx-III W 369; Cx-I+II mL 109, Cx-I+II lL 234. Genital field L/W 104 (111)/111 (120), ratio 0.93 (0.92), L Ac-1-3: 33-34 (36), 31-33 (32), 36-39 (39). Ejaculatory complex L (123).

Gnathosoma — palp total L 326 (330); dL/H, dL/H ratio: P-1, 34/31, 1.07 (28/30. 0.95); P-2, 74/65, 1.15 (81/70, 1.17); P-3, 77/50, 1.53 (83/58, 1.43); P-4, 106/39, 2.7 (105/47, 2.2); P-5, 35/14, 2.5 (33/14, 2.3); length ratio P-2/P-4 0.7 (0.77). Gnathosoma L 133; chelicera total L 236 (242).

Legs — I-L-5 dL 195 (215), vL 138 (143), dL/vL ratio 1.4 (1.5), maximum H 68 (73), dL/maximum H 2.9 (2.9), S-1 L 97 (105), L/W ratio 9.1 (9.6), S-2 L 81 (91), L/W ratio 6.1 (6.4), distance S-1-2, 16 (16), dL ratio S-1/2 1.19 (1.16); I-L-6 dL 136 (147), central H 22 (23), dL/central H ratio 6.2 (6.3); L I-L-5/6 ratio 1.44 (1.46).

Female — Unknown.

Etymology — The new species is named after the province where the type locality is located.

Discussion — The new species from South Iran closely resembles Atractides gibberipalpis Piersig, 1898 , a rhitrobiontic species from the Palaearctic. The specimens from Yazd province (central Iran), here assigned to the new species, were originally assigned by Pešić et al. (2004b) to A. gibberipalpis . Re-examination of this material reveals a diagnostic differences in the shape of genital field and S-1 ( A. gibberipalpis : Ac larger, Ac-3 elongated, drop-shaped, anterior margin more or less indented; S-1 distally narrowed with bluntly pointed tip, see Gerecke 2003).

Atractides yunusi Pešić & Smit, 2021 , a species recently described species from Kyrgyzstan ( Pešić and Smit 2021a) resembles the new species in Ac arrangement and in a I-L with enlarged penultimate segment bearing a truncated sword seta S-1 but differs in shape of the genital field (anterior margin slightly convex, Ac-3 more roundish and smaller in size) and P-4 sword seta nearer to distoventral seta ( Pešić and Smit 2021a).

Distribution — Iran; known from a high-order stream.

Figures

Figure 5. Atractides yazdensis sp. nov., ♂, Deh Bala, Iran (A-D holotype, E paratype). A – coxal field, partial view; B – palp, medial view; C – I-L-5 and -6; D-E – genital field. Scale bars = 100 µm.