Hygrobates

Smit, Harry, 2005, Water mites of the family Hygrobatidae Koch from southern Africa (Acari: Hydrachnidia), Journal of Natural History 39 (38), pp. 3369-3405 : 3394-3397

Hygrobates (?) loricatus K. O. Viets, 1981

( Figures 33 , 34 )

Material examined

Holotype: male, Chol , Gauteng, South Africa, 3 March 1962, leg. Agnew (slide 6851, SMF).

Remarks

K. O. Viets (1981) illustrated only the palp of this species. I made an illustration of the genital field and the first leg, but the slide is of poor quality. The subgeneric and in my opinion even the generic assignment of this species is uncertain. K. O. Viets (1981) placed it in the subgenus Hygrotetrabates , but according to Cook (1974) this subgenus is restricted to the Holarctic. The only other African hygrobatid without heavy distal setae on I-leg-5 is Hygrobatopsis Viets. The male of the only known member of this genus has also an extensive ventral sclerotization, but has a differently shaped palp. More material, including the female, is needed to make a decision about the taxonomical status of H. loricatus .

Figures

Figure 33. Hygrobates loricatus K. O. Viets, holotype male, genital field. Scale bar: 50 mm.

Figure 34. Hygrobates loricatus K. O. Viets, holotype male, I-leg-5–6. Scale bar: 50 mm.