Axonopsella porphyria, Orginal, 2021

Orginal, Harry Smit, 2021, The water mites of Western Australia (Acari: Hydrachnidia), with the description of 13 new species, Acarologia 61 (4), pp. 928-966 : 954-956

Axonopsella porphyria n. sp.

Zoobank: 48C9A35B-91EE-4B0E-AEAC-063869EA4855

( Figure 15 A-F)

Material examined — Holotype male, Rowell’s Pool, Mount Frankland South NP, Western Australia, Australia, 34°49.120′ S 116°35.657′ E, 34 m asl, 6 Feb. 2019 ( WAM) . Paratype: One female, same data as holotype ( WAM); two males, one female, St John Brook upstream of Barrabup Pool, St John Brook Conservation Park, Western Australia, Australia, 33°56.626′ S 115°41.462′ E, 53 m asl, 8 Feb. 2019 ( RMNH).

Diagnosis — Male: Idiosoma blue with purple legs, dorsum with a yellow broad, Y-shaped colour pattern. Cx-IV without glandularia, posterior venter with a sclerotized bar with a pair of glandularia, IV-leg-4 with an extension with one stout, curved seta and a small seta on pointed dorsal extension, IV-leg-5 bowed. The large coxal shield might be diagnostic for the female, but many females not described.

Description — Male: Idiosoma blue with purplish legs, with a yellow, broad Y-shaped colour pattern, dorsally 377 (373) long and 292 (289-292) wide, ventrally 330 (332-340) long.

Venter with antenniform setae on a separate platelet. Posterior to insertion of fourth legs a long ridge. Cx-IV without glandularia. Posterior margin of Cx-IV with a pair of genital glands (sensu Cook 1986). Apophyses on lateral end of posterior margin of Cx-IV. Between first pair of acetabula and second pair one pair of genital glands ( Figure 15A). In one of the paratypes this genital gland shifted more anteriorly to the level of first acetabulum. Fourth pair of acetabula on a sclerotize bar near posterior margin of venter. Length of P1-5: 22, 50, 24, 60, 30 ( Figure 15B). P4 slender, but with little diagnostic characters like in most Australian Axonopsella species ( Cook 1986). Length of I-leg-4-6: 66, 70, 52. One of the claws of second leg enlarged ( Figure 15C). Length of IV-leg-4-6: 76, 104, 96. IV-leg-4 with an extension with ventrally a large, curved setae, and dorsal extension pointed with a small seta inserted, IV-leg-5 bowed ( Figures 15 D-E). II-leg-5 and III-leg-5 with two long swimming setae.

Female: Idiosoma brownish or blue, legs purplish, with the same broad Y-shaped pattern as in male, dorsally 445 (446) long and 316 (356) wide, ventrally 409 (389) long. Dorsal shield

413 long and 284 wide. Antenniform platelet as in male. Venter with a large ventral shield, covering nearly complete venter. Suture lines of coxae incomplete, including the Y-shaped suture line of Cx-I/II and Cx-IV ( Figure 15F). Posterior margin of Cx-IV obsolete. Genital field with four pairs of acetabula, partly fused with ventral shield. Length of P1-5: 26, 60, 32, 68, 32. Ventral margin of P2 with a few small papillae. Length of I-leg-4-6: 67, 68, 44. Length of IV-leg-4-6: 82, 92, 86. Second leg without enlarged claw. Swimming setae as in male.

Etymology — Named for the conspicuous purplish colour of the legs, after the Greek porhyra.

Remarks — The male of Axonopsella bipartita Smit, 2018 has a more or less similar IV-leg-4, but IV-leg-5 of this species is less bowed, the medial margin of Cx-III/IV is much longer and ridges posterior to insertion of fourth legs are absent.