Hydrovolzia cancellata Walter, 1906

Erman, Orhan, Pešić, Vladimir, Esen, Yunus & Özkan, Muhlis, 2010, A checklist of the water mites of Turkey (Acari: Hydrachnidia) with description of two new species, Zootaxa 2624, pp. 1-48 : 4-5

Hydrovolzia cancellata Walter, 1906

Hydrovolza persica Bader & Sepasgozarian, 1979, nov. syn. Hydrovolzia persica anatolica Oezkan, 1982, nov. syn.

Compared material: NHMB 48 – 49 Hydrovolzia persica anatolica Holotype Ƥ, 3, Malazgirt-Muş, 7.viii.1981; NHMB 0 37 Hydrovolzia persica Holotype Ƥ, 3, Shiraz/Dobiz, 5.vi.1977, coll. Ba 77/23.

Records from Turkey: Muş Province (“ H. persica anatolica “ Oezkan 1982). Rize Province (“ H. placophora “ Aşçı & Özkan 2005); Afyon Province (“ H. placophora “ Aşçı et al. 2006 – 2007).

Remarks: In the original description, Bader & Sepasgozarian (1979) compared Hydrovolzia persica with H. placophora (Monti 1905), but were not aware of the close similarity to H. cancellata Walter, 1906 . In view of combination of the following features (from Davids et al. 2007): structure of the mediodorsal sclerites in the central part lattice-like, with large, often irregularly shaped pores; postdorsal plate narrow, maximum W <300 μm, L/W ratio> 2.0; postexcretory plate roundish or slightly elongated, W <190 μm, L/W ratio> 1.0; P- 4 more slender, with maximum H in the centre of the segment) the specimens of H. persica are in perfect agreement with H. cancellata . Furthermore, the measurements (L/W predorsal plate 195 – 243/350 – 395, postdorsal plate 555 – 632/181 – 218, excretory plate 106 – 156/75 – 112, postexcretory plate 125 – 181/81 – 150) given in the original descriptions lie within the variability range of H. cancellata . As no distinctive morphological differences are found, H. persica should be considered a junior synonym of H. cancellata .

A re-examination of the type series of Hydrovolzia persica anatolica described by Özkan (1982) from Turkey shows that these specimens in the combination of the aforementioned characters are good agreement with H. cancellata . Also, the measurements given in the original descriptions and taken from re-examination of the type specimens: L/W predorsal plate 243 – 244/362 – 372, postdorsal plate 534 – 618/213 – 225, excretory plate 127 – 148/84 – 93, postexcretory plate 151 – 178/95 – 109, are in good agreement with the variability of H. cancellata . Thus, H. persica anatolica should be considered a junior synonym of H. cancellata .

The specimens reported by Aşçı & Özkan (2005) under the of name H. placophora from Turkey also refer to H. cancellata . Namely, morphological details given there and the measurements (L/W predorsal plate 160 – 173/300 – 333, postdorsal plate 427 – 507/200 – 240, excretory plate 93 – 133/93 – 120, postexcretory plate 107 – 173/120 – 133, data taken from Aşçı & Özkan 2005) are in perfect agreement with the variability of H. cancellata .

Habitat: Rhitrobiont.

Distribution: Central and Eastern Mediterranean.