Litarachna denhami Lohmann, 1909

Wiles, P. R., Chatterjee, Tapas & Troch, Marleen De, 2002, Two new and one known marine water mite (Acari: Hydrachnidia: Pontarachnidae) from South-East Africa, Journal of Natural History 36 (16), pp. 1987-1994 : 1991-1992

Litarachna denhami Lohmann, 1909

(gure 3)

Female. Idiosoma 546 long, 410 broad; glandularia free in integument; eye pigment well developed. Venter with epimera I–IV fused and EpI–EpI separated medially; suture EpI/EpII and EpIII/EpIV complete, EpII/EpIII incomplete; EpIV with two pairs of apodemes, the posterior pair extending beyond the gonopore. Gonopore surrounded by sclerotized ring 87 long, 63 broad, and lacking setae. Anus located near posterior margin of body, posterior to V1 and V2. Three wheellike structures present behind posterior epimera, V3 (gland and seta) fused to L3 (5acetabular plates of Cook, 1986) and located posterolateral to V1. Pedipalp slender, not tapering distally, with no tubercles ventrally on PIV; length PI–PV, 35, 122, 65, 152, 70. Chelicera with claw-like chela. Legs with two short distal (swimming?) setae on IV-Leg-5; length I-Leg-3 –6, 73, 89, 124, 111; II-Leg-3 –6, 73, 90, 127. 132; III-Leg-3–6, 76, 94, 143, 108; IV-Leg-3–6, 91, 142, 165, 172.

Material examined. S346, S347, Republic of South Africa, Park Rynie , Durban, 29 June 1999 .

Remarks. The specimens from South Africa diVer from the holotype from Western Australia (Lohman, 1909) and from the Red Sea ( Viets, 1959) in the shape of the pedipalp PIV, which does not taper distally. The pedipalp is, however, slender and has the same length proportions as L. denhami , tting the type description in all other respects. The distribution of this species extends from Australia to South Africa.