Atractides (Atractides) vietsi (Cook, 1966)

Smit, Harry, 2021, Water mites from West Africa (Acari: Hydrachnidia), Acarologia 61 (3), pp. 700-746 : 710

Atractides (Atractides) vietsi (Cook, 1966)

( Figure 5 A-E)

New record. Ghana. 0/1 [palp + I-leg-5–6 mounted]/0, small rainforest stream upstream Sagyimase, Atewa Hills, 6°13.964′ N 0°33.116′ W, 654 m a.s.l., 8 Mar. 2011.

Material for comparison. Atractides rectipes (K. Viets, 1924) , holotype male, Múke-Fluss, Kamerun, 15 Jan. 1916 (slide 45938, SMF). Atractides vietsi (Cook, 1966) , paratype male, stream at Bridge No 19 on Bomi Hills Road, Liberia, 23 Jan. 1957 (sign. 36, leg. Cook) (slide 53005, SMF; paratype female, stream at Bridge No 19 on Bomi Hills Road, Liberia, 23 Jan. 1957 (sign. 36, leg. Cook) (slide 53006, SMF).

Remarks. According to Cook (1966), the differences between males of A. rectipes and A. vietsi are the single dorsal platelet in the former and the paired dorsal platelets in the latter. Unfortunately, the female of A. rectipes is unknown. The female of vietsi has a pair of dorsal platelets, as in the male ( Figure 5A ). A character not discussed by Cook (1966), is the shape of the two distal setae of I-leg-5. These are slightly curved in both species, but rounded at its tip in rectipes , and truncated in vietsi (and not pointed as illustrated by Cook 1966) ( Figure 5E ). Given these differences, the female of this study must be assigned A to. vietsi .

Distribution. Liberia (Cook 1966).

Figures

Figure 5 Atractides (Atractides) vietsi Cook, female. A – dorsum; B – venter; C – left palp; D – right palp; E – I-leg-5–6. Scale bars: A-B = 100 µm, C-E = 50 µm.