Atractides pulcher K. Viets 1956
Creators: name: Pešić, Vladimir
name: Smit, Harry
name: Gerecke, Reinhard
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Trombidiformes
Hygrobatidae
Atractides
Atractides pulcher

description: Atractides pulcher K. Viets, 1956
(Figs. 11–13)
Material examined. South Africa, Western Cape province: SA 1 1/0/0; SA 6 5/11 /0 (1/1/0 mounted); SA 7 2/2/0.
General features. Dorsal integument striated; muscle attachments with sexual dimorphism; genital field: Ac in a weakly curved line. Palp: ventral margins of P-2, -3 and -4 straight or weakly concave, P-4 sword seta nearer to distoventral hair. I-L-5 elongated, setae S-1 and -2 close to each other; I-L-6 rather short and curved; leg claws with dorsal and ventral clawlets.
Morphology. Male (SA 6): Extended dorsal shield including postoc and Dgl-3-6, L/W 378/325; extended ventral shield including coxae, genital field, excretory pore, all ventralia and Vgl, L/W 428/366; coxal field: completely fused. Genital field (Fig. 11B): W between outer margins of the most lateral pair of Ac 113, L Ac 1-3: 18– 19, 19–20, 17–18.
Palp (Fig. 11C): total L 258, dL: P-1, 23; P-2, 53; P-3, 57; P-4, 93; P-5, 32; L ratio P-2/P-4, 0.57; capitulum vL 89; chelicera total L 165.
I-L (Fig. 11D): I-L-5 dL 134, vL 114, dL/vL ratio 1.18, HB 37, dL/HB 3.6, S-1 L 40, L/ W 8.0, S-2 L 48, L/ W 5.6, distance S-1-2, 5, L ratio S-1/2, 0.83; I-L-6 L 70, HB 17, L/HB ratio 4.1; L ratio I-L-5/6, 1.9.
Female (SA 6). Muscle attachments as in Fig. 13A, postfr, postoc and D-1 on large, roundish separate platelets, D-4 fused to an unpaired elongate platelet, all other dorsalia free, not fused to neighboring glandular platelets; coxal field: with extended borders of secondary sclerotization, medioposterior margin of Cx-I+II sharply pointed; medial margin of Cx-III+IV rounded, L 359; Cx-III W 384; Cx-I+II mL 134, lL 231. Genital field (Fig. 12): pregen very robust, with extended secondary sclerotization, genital plates with weakly concave medial margins, L/W 155/ 163, pregen W 127, genital plate L 95, L Ac 1-3: 29, 28, 26; excretory pore: sclerotized, Vgl-1 fused to Vgl-2.
Palp (Fig. 13B): total L 335, dL: P-1, 29; P-2, 71; P-3, 83; P-4, 112; P-5, 40; L ratio P-2/P-4, 0.63; capitulum vL 117; chelicera total L 227.
I-L: I-L-5 dL 174, vL 151, dL/vL ratio 1.15, HB 45, dL/HB 3.9, S-1 L 48, L/ W 7.7, S-2 L 55, L/ W 5.5, distance S-1-2, 8, L ratio S-1/2, 0.87; I-L-6 L 71, HB 19, L/HB ratio 3.7; L ratio I-L-5/6, 2.45.
Remarks. Due to the sclerotized muscle attachments, sclerotized excretory pore, fused Vgl-1 and -2, similar shape of the palp, elongated I-L-5 with short S-1 and -2 interspace, and a stout and curved I-L-6, the specimens examined from South Africa show general conformity with Atractides pulcher described by K. Viets (1953) from the Great Berg River, South Africa. Thus far, only a single female specimen of this species was known, and this is the first description of the male.
Distribution. South Africa: Western Cape province: K. Viets (1956), present study.
description: Published as part of Pešić, Vladimir, Smit, Harry & Gerecke, Reinhard, 2011, New records of water mites of the genus Atractides Koch, 1837 (Acari: Hydrachnidia, Hygrobatidae) from South Africa, with descriptions of five new species, pp. 1-54 in Zootaxa 2986 on pages 13-16, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.200656