Copidognathus balakrishnani Chatterjee, 2000

Chatterjee, Tapas, 2022, An annotated checklist of halacarid mites (Acari, Halacaridae) from India, Zootaxa 5141 (4), pp. 301-320 : 304-305

Copidognathus balakrishnani Chatterjee, 2000

Records from India. GOA: Chorao Island, North Goa , among algal turf growing on Avicennia mangrove pneumatophores — Chatterjee (2015b) . KERALA: Cochin backwater, among Enteromorpha sp. —Chatterjee (2000); Vembanad lake , upstream— Dev Roy et al. (2009) .

Distribution. ITE— India (Goa).

Remarks. Scanning electron microscopic observations of this species from Goa (west coast of India) was given in Chatterjee (2015b).

This species belongs to ‘ C. balakrishnani group’ ( Chatterjee et al. 2012b, Chatterjee 2015b). This group is characterized by short rostrum, small palps; areolae and costae with porose panel; PD with 4 costae; pectinate setae on tibiae I–IV: 2-2-1-1; tarsi III–IV with lateral PAS, medial PAS absent, setae ds 2 on OC, setae ds 3 -ds 5 on PD. Four species viz. Copidognathus balakrishnani Chatterjee, 2000 from India (Chatterjee 2000, 2015b), C. caloglossae Procheş, 2002 reported associated with the algal complex, ‘ Bostrychietum ’, covering the pneumatophores of mangrove Avicennia marina at Richards Bay, Isipingo and Beachwood mangrove forests in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and at Inhambane, Mozambique ( Procheş et al. 2001; Procheş 2002; Procheş & Marshall 2002), C. lutarius Bartsch, 2003 reported among the turf of mangrove A. marina on the east coast of the Burrup Peninsula, Dampier, Western Australia ( Bartsch 2003a) and C. rhombognathoideus Bartsch, 2006 reported from algae on sediments, as well as pneumatophores and stems of mangroves in Singapore ( Bartsch 2006) and from algal turf growing on Rhizophora mangrove pneumatophores at Batu Marang, Brunei Darussalam ( Chatterjee et al. 2012b) was assigned to this natural group ( Chatterjee 2015b). All these species were reported from low salinity zones associated with mangroves and algae ( Chatterjee 2015b).