Atractides (Atractides) turani Pesic, Zawal, Gulle & Smit 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Pešić, Vladimir
name: Zawal, Andrzej
name: Gülle, Pınar
name: Gülle, İskender
name: Jovanović, Milica
name: Bańkowska, Aleksandra
name: Musielak, Stanisław
name: Smit, Harry
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Trombidiformes
Hygrobatidae
Atractides
Atractides turani

description: Atractides (Atractides) turani Pešić, Zawal, Gülle & Smit sp. nov.
Fig. 4
Type material.
Holotype • ♂, sequenced (Voucher Id: CCDB -48498-A 09), dissected and slide mounted (RMNH), Burdur, TR 11-2024, Söbüce, stream, 37.287872°N, 30.067743°E, 24 Apr. 2024, leg. Pešić, Zawal, Gülle & Gülle.
Other material.
• 1 ♂, sequenced (Voucher Id: CCDB -48498-F 11), one palp and one I-leg dissected and conserved in Koenike’s fluid, Burdur, TR 2-2024 Akyayla, rheocrenic spring, 37.482956°N, 30.326647°E, 22 Apr. 2024, leg. Pešić, Zawal, Gülle & Gülle.
Diagnosis.
(female unknown) Integument lineated, P- 2 with a weakly developed protrusion, P- 4 sword seta slightly posterior to distoventral seta, the latter closely approaching the distoventral edge of the segment, I-L- 5 elongate, with setae S- 1 / - 2 close to each other, interspace 9 µm, I-L- 6 shortened and distally narrowed, L I-L- 5 / 6 ratio> 1.6.
Description.
Male (holotype). Integument lineated; dorsal and ventrocaudal idiosoma without sclerotized muscle insertions. Genital plate with nearly straight anterior margin, posterior margin medially indented in an obtuse angle. Gonopore long, flanked by ~ 10 pairs of fine setae. Acetabula subtriangular, arranged in an obtuse triangle. Excretory pore smooth, Vgl- 1 / 2 separate.
Gnathosoma without particularly projecting rostrum, palp with a rounded distoventral projection at P- 2, P- 4 slightly protruding near proximoventral seta, sword seta long and curved, inserting slightly posterior to distoventral seta, distoventral seta closely approaching the distoventral edge of the segment (Fig. 4 C), ventral margin divided in sectors 3: 5: 1.
I-L- 5 elongate, dorsal and ventral margin diverging only towards distal segment end; setae S- 1 and S- 2 bluntly pointed and close to each other (separation <10 µm), S- 1 slightly shorter and more slender than S- 2; I-L- 6 shortened and curved, equally narrowed from base to tip (Fig. 4 B).
Measurements (holotype [CCDB -48498-A 09], in parentheses some measurements of specimen from Akyayla [CCDB -48498-F 11] — Idiosoma L 590 (603), W (456); maximum diameter Dgl- 4, 24 (25). Coxal shield L 303; Cx-III W 344; Cx-I + II mL 94, Cx-I + II lL 211. Genital field L / W 116 (127) / 125 (132), ratio 0.93 (0.96), L Ac- 1-3: 44 (45–48), 39–42 (48–56), 38–39 (42).
Palp — Total L 288 (307); dL / H: P- 1, 30 / 30 (33 / 30); P- 2, 66 / 48 (69 / 53); P- 3, 64 / 42 (66 / 42); P- 4, 97 / 37 (105 / 35); P- 5, 31 / 12 (34 / 12); L ratio P- 2 / P- 4, 0.68 (0.63). Chelicera total L 197, capitulum vL 121.
Legs — I-L- 5 dL 170 (183), vL 134 (138), dL / vL ratio 1.28 (1.33), maximum H 50 (58), dL / maximum H ratio 3.4 (3.16), S- 1 L 77 (88), L / W ratio 9.2 (10.4), S- 2 L 65 (73), L / W ratio 5.5 (6.7), distance S- 1 -2, 9 (11), dL ratio S- 1 / 2, 1.19 (1.14); I-L- 6 dL 95 (113), central H 22 (23), dL / central H ratio 4.27 (4.9); L I-L- 5 / 6 ratio 1.79 (1.62).
Female. Unknown.
Etymology.
The new species is named after Prof. Davut Turan (Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, Rize, Türkiye) in appreciation of his comprehensive work on Turkish ichthyofauna.
Species delimitation using DNA barcodes.
The final alignment for species delimitation using COI sequence data comprised 681 nucleotide positions (nps) of the 353 Atractides specimens listed in Suppl. material 1. Atractides acutirostris from the subgenus Tympanomegapus was used to root the tree. The NJ tree is presented in Fig. 5. The COI tree sequences retrieved from two specimens collected in southeastern Türkiye reveals the presence of two maximally supported clades corresponding to each of sequenced individuals. These two clades were placed, albeit with a low support, as a sister group to the cluster of sequences belonging to A. fissus (Walter, 1927).
Differential diagnosis.
In the Western Palaearctic fauna, the most similar species (combining a lineated integument with a weakly developed protrusion of P- 2 in males) are A. panniculatus (K. Viets, 1925), A. fissus (Walter, 1927), A. rivalis Lundblad, 1956, and A. elazigensis Esen & Pešić, 2024. From all these species (in parentheses data from Gerecke 2003 and Esen and Pešić 2024), the new species can be distinguished by having a narrower separation of setae S- 1 / 2, <10 µm (> 20 µm), a rather high I-L- 5 / 6 ratio of 1.7 (L ratio I-L- 5 / 6 <1.5) and I-L- 6 basally thickened and distally narrowed (I-L- 6 longer, not narrowed in distal part).
Further European species with a rather high I-L- 5 / 6 ratio (for details see Gerecke 2003) are Atractides fonticolus (K. Viets, 1920), A. pennatus (K. Viets, 1920), and A. legeri (Motaș, 1927). These three species form a distinctive species group, differing from the new species in the shape of P- 2 with a ventral projection in males and the shape of I-L- 6 (with dorsal and ventral margins parallel up to the base of the claw furrow, distally not continuously narrowed, see Gerecke 2003 for details).
The single sequenced male collected in spring near Akyayla differs from the type specimen in longer and consequently more slender I-L- 6 (compare Fig. 4 B with Fig. 4 C). Genetic data indicate that this specimen forms a unique BIN (BOLD: AGG 3774). The p - distance between this BIN and BOLD: AGG 3768, which include type specimen of A. turani sp. nov., was estimated at 6.26 %. The results of the applied ASAP procedure grouped the sequences of these two BINS into the same MOTU (hypothetical species).
Distribution.
Türkiye.
description: Published as part of Pešić, Vladimir, Zawal, Andrzej, Gülle, Pınar, Gülle, İskender, Jovanović, Milica, Bańkowska, Aleksandra, Musielak, Stanisław & Smit, Harry, 2025, Water mite diversity from southwestern Türkiye through the lens of the DNA barcodes, with the description of one new species (Acari, Hydrachnidia), pp. 205-236 in ZooKeys 1232 on pages 205-236, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1232.142699