Albia (Spinalbia) hystrix Viets, 1914

Smit, Harry, 2016, The water mite family Aturidae Thor (Acari: Hydrachnidia) from Ghana, with the description of twelve new species, Zootaxa 4158 (4), pp. 523-543 : 524-525

Albia (Spinalbia) hystrix Viets, 1914

( Fig. 1A )

Material examined. Holotype female, Buea, Nkwo-Flusse b. Tojoki, [ Cameroon], 19-xi-1911, leg. Damköhler (slide 1255, SMF); cotype female , Kamerun, Bach a. Dibombe kl. b. Bonapupa, [ Cameroon], leg. Damköhler, 19- v-1914 (slide 1908, SMF); female , Kamerun, Bäche SO Niala, leg Damköhler, 1915/1916 (slides 4177, 4178, SMF) . Ghana. 0/3/0, Plunge pool Boti Falls, 6º 11.573 N 0º 13.006 W, alt . 271 m a.s.l., 9-iii-2011; 0/1/0, Stream Boti Falls , 6º 11.508 N 0º 13.010 W, alt . 273 m a.s.l., 9-iii-2011; 0/1/0, Unnamed stream between Apepam and Kojo Amu, Atewa Hills, 6º 10.252 N 0º 36.520 W, alt . 424 m a.s.l., 27-ii-2013.

Remarks. The females examined from Ghana have a very distinct excretory pore platelet posterior to the genital field, flanked by an even distinct pair of glandularia platelets. However, Viets (1914) didn’t illustrate this in his original publication. Therefore I checked a number of slides of the Viets collection. In the holotype only the excretory pore is present, the glandularia platelets are lost. In the cotype (which can’t be a paratype because this specimen was not part of the original publication) and the non-type material from Cameroon, both excretory pore and the glandularia platelets are present. Occasionally, these platelets are partly covered by the genital plates. Albia hystrix is known from Cameroon, Liberia and reported here for the first time for Ghana.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A. Albia hystrix Viets, female, detail of genital field. B – D. Albia tenuipalpis Viets. B = dorsum; C = venter; D = palp. Scale bars = 50 µm.