Kongsbergia Thor, 1899

Gerecke, Reinhard, 2014, Studies on European species of the water mite family Aturidae Thor (Acari: Hydrachnidia), Zootaxa 3841 (1), pp. 1-46 : 22

Genus Kongsbergia Thor, 1899

In contrast to Aturus , species-diagnostic characters may (but not must!) be found in both sexes in shape and setation of the palp. In many cases, these are helpful for reciprocal attribution of sexes. As compared with Aturus , sexual dimorphism in Kongsbergia involves to a lesser degree the dorsal idiosoma (here, sexes differ occasionally in shape of dorsal setae and surface sculpturation), but often also the shape of palp segments. As in Aturus , the male IV-L is strikingly modified for holding the female during mating: IV-L-6 can be shut against the preceding segment and there received in a longitudinal groove and fixed by a proximoventral processus of IV-L-5. Three characteristically modified ventral setae of IV-L-5 are here addressed as "proximal", "central" and "distal" setae. All treated species belong to subgenus Kongsbergia s. str., characterized by the I-L without sexual modifications.