Arrenurus

Esen, Yunus, Erman, Orhan & Dilkaraoglu, Sibel, 2013, Contribution to the study of arrenuroid water mites (Acari: Hydrachnidia) from Turkey, Zootaxa 3666 (1), pp. 73-83 : 80-81

Arrenurus (s.str.) vavrai Thon, 1899

Arrenurus (s.str.) kurui Erman, 1993 syn. nov.

Material examined. Elazıġ Province, Kovancılar, Yeniköy village 25.viii.1989, (14/5/0), leg. Erman; Bingöl Province, Karlıova, Toklular village, 16.vii.2009, (1/3/0), leg. Esen.

Remarks. Due to the presence of well developed hyaline extensions on petiole ventrolaterally, the similarity of A. vavrai and A. kurui was stated by Smit et al. (2000) firstly. In the original description Erman (1993) compared A. kurui with A. processiger Viets, 1930 and A. zapus Cook, 1976 , but was not aware of the close similarity with A. vavrai Thon, 1899 . Examination of the specimens from Eastern Anatolia (Elazıġ and Bingöl Province–Erman & Özkan 2000; Esen 2011) show that, due to the concave anterior margin of idiosoma, blunt humps on dorsal shield, short cauda and pygal lobes, associated setae of petiole extending to posterior margin of petiole, and similar dimensions of idiosoma, petiole and total length of palp (Thon 1899), A. kurui is in perfect agreement with A. vavrai . Thus A. kurui should be considered a junior synonym of A. vavrai . A description of the Turkish specimens are given below.

Male: Idiosoma 864–1135 long (including petiole), 684–864 wide. Anterior margin of idiosoma concave, dorsal shield incomplete, dorsal shield W 384–553, dorsal furrow not extending to lateral margin of idiosoma. Dorsal humps blunt (fig. 6A). Genital plates wide and extending to lateral margin of idiosoma. Medial distance between fourth coxal plates relatively large (fig. 6B). Cauda distinct, pygal lobes very short. Hyaline membrane short, with a concave posterior margin. Petiole rounded posteriorly. Petiole L/W 88–110/69–76. Petiole with hyaline extensions on ventrolaterally (figs. 6C, D). Ligulate process small, rounded posteriorly and not extending to posterior margin of petiole (fig. 6E). Associated setae nearly extending to posterior margin of petiole. Palp total L 283–320. dL of palp segments: P- 1 29–33, P-2 73–81, P-3 53–64, P-4 81–89, P-5 47–53. P-2 medially with five setae (fig. 6F). IV-L-4 with a spur.

Female: Idiosoma L/W 1428–1460 /1190–1200, anterior margin of body straight, posterolateral corners slightly distinct, dorsal shield L/W 1080–1100/816–825. Gonopore L/W 126/153, genital plates large. Medial distance of fourth coxal plates as wide as two genital valves (fig. 6G). Genital field W 790–815. Palp total L 334, dL of palp segments: P-1 39, P-2 84, P-3 65, P-4 95, P-5 51. P-2 medially with five setae.

Distribution. Czech Republic (Thon 1899), Turkey (“ Arrenurus kurui ” Erman 1993 ).