Monatractides oza ( Cook, 1967 )

Pešić, Vladimir, Chatterjee, Tapas & Bordoloi, Sabitry, 2010, A checklist of the water mites (Acari: Hydrachnidia) of India, with new records and description of one new species, Zootaxa 2617, pp. 1-54 : 14

Monatractides oza ( Cook, 1967)

Records from the study area: Maharashtra—“ Torrenticola (Monatractides) oza “ Cook (1967); “ T. oza “ Prasad (1974); Pešić & Ranga Reddy (2009b).

Remarks: Monatractides oza closely resembles M. oxystomus ( K. Viets, 1935), a species known from Indonesia and Thailand ( Pešić & Smit 2009b) from which it differs in having slightly shorter and wider frontal platelets, but this character is known to be variable. A further difference is found in the absence of denticles at the distal margins of P-2 and P-3 (see Cook, 1967: Fig. 244). The variability needs to be examined to clarify the taxonomy ( Pešić & Smit 2009b).

Habitat: Streams.

Distribution: India.