Encentridophorus (Encentridophorus) vietsi Bader, 1981

Smit, Harry, 2021, Water mites from West Africa (Acari: Hydrachnidia), Acarologia 61 (3), pp. 700-746 : 725-726

Encentridophorus (Encentridophorus) vietsi Bader, 1981

New records. The Gambia. 0/3/0, small pond Kampanti, Western Division, 7 Feb. 1998 ; 0/8/0, pool Prufu Swamp, Basse, Upper River Division, 10 Feb. 1998 ; 1/0/0, pool along Prufu Bolon stream, Basse, Upper River Division, 12 Feb. 1998. Ghana. 3/4/2, pool Damango, 9°03.983′

N 1°48.419′ W, 185 m a.s.l., 4 Mar. 2011 ; 1/13/0, Black Volta River at Buipe, 8°45.674′ N

1°27.320′ W, 76 m a.s.l., 6 Mar. 2011 ; 0/8/0, rock pools upstream Fuller Falls, 8°04.958′ N 1°47.749′ W, 188 m a.s.l., 6 Mar. 2011 ; 0/2/0, lake Dahwenya, 5°46.760′ N 0°03.049′ E, 24 m

a.s.l., 9 Feb. 2013 ; 1/10/0, Avu Lagoon, 5°59.244′ N 0°42.476′ E, 13 m a.s.l., 18 Feb. 2013.

Remarks. Viets (1916) assigned specimens from Cameroon to E. spinifer (Koenike,

1893), a species described initially based on the female sex only. However, Encentridophorus females show few species-specific characters, and therefore I agree with Bader (1981) that the assignment of Viets (1916) is questionable. Bader (1981) described his specimens from Cameroon as E. vietsi Bader, 1981 , and postulated that the specimens of Viets might belong to this species. My male from the Gambia has the posterior idiosoma margin with 4+1 (in the holotype 5+1) pairs of stout setae, but is otherwise similar to E. vietsi . In my opinion the male from the Gambia and the specimens from Viets (1916) belong all to E. vietsi . The number of stout setae at the posterior idiosoma margin is, therefore, 4–6 pairs of setae + a separated seta on each side. Bader (1981) was the opinion that the specimens reported by Walter 1939) from Chad do not belong to E. vietsi , but belong possibly to a new species. Bader based this opinion on the measurements of leg segments and the number of swimming setae. I disagree with Bader, and I don′t see any marked differences between the specimens from Chad and Cameroon. Distribution. West Africa, previously reported from Cameroon ( Viets 1916 ; Bader 1981),

Chad ( Walter 1939), the Gambia, Ghana (this study).