Monatractides phobetor Pešić & Smit 2014, n. sp.
Creators: name: Pešić, Vladimir
name: Smit, Harry
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Trombidiformes
Torrenticolidae
Monatractides
Monatractides phobetor

description: Monatractides phobetor n. sp.
(Figs. 30H, 36A–G, 39H, 40H)
Type series. Holotype male, dissected and slide mounted, Malaysia, Borneo, Little Lumotok stream, Sayap, Mt Kinabalu, 6º09.467 N, 116º34.027 E, alt. 1069 m asl., 17.ix.2012 Smit.
Diagnosis. Male. Idiosoma elongated (dorsal shield L/W ratio 1.4); frontal and shoulder plates fused with the large dorsal plate forming an undivided dorsal shield; gnathosomal bay V-shaped, proximally pointed, three pairs of knob-like protrusions at the lateral margins of gnathosomal bay; medial margin of Cx-II/III relatively long.
Description
Male. General features —Idiosoma elongated; frontal and shoulder plates fused with the large dorsal plate forming an undivided dorsal shield (Fig. 36A); frontal margin medially slightly convex, between flat protrusions (Fig. 36C); gnathosomal bay V-shaped, proximally pointed, three pairs of knob-like protrusions at the lateral margins of gnathosomal bay; medial margin of Cx-II/III relatively long; genital field subrectangular; ejaculatory complex (Fig. 30H) normal in shape (proximal and distal arms and proximal chamber well developed); suture line of Cx-IV distinct, originating from lateral edge of genital field; excretory pore and Vgl-2 well separated from the line of primary sclerotization, Vgl-2 slightly posterior to excretory pore; gnathosoma elongated in lateral view, rostrum truncated (Fig. 36F); P-2 shorter than P-4, distal margin of P-3 and P-4 medially and laterally with several pointed extensions; P-4 with two ventral setae, one very long and away from distal edge (Figs. 36D–E).
Measurements —Idiosoma (ventral view: Figs. 36B, 40H) L 727, W 553; dorsal shield (Figs. 36A, 39H) L 688, W 505, L/W ratio 1.36. Gnathosomal bay L 106, Cx-I total L 266, Cx-I mL 160, Cx-II+III mL 113; ratio Cx-I L/ Cx-II+III mL 2.35; Cx-I mL/Cx-II+III mL 1.4. Genital field L/W 146/120, ratio 1.21; ejaculatory complex L 168; distance genital field-excretory pore 144, genital field-caudal idiosoma margin 200. Gnathosoma vL 137; chelicera total L 160; palp total L 191, dL/H, dL/H ratio: P-1, 27/21, 1.3; P-2, 46/35, 1.32; P-3, 35/28, 1.46; P-4, 51/19, 2.67; P-5, 32/13.5, 2.4; P-2/P-4 ratio 0.91. Legs: dL of I-L-2-6: 55, 65, 79, 77, 85, I-L-6 H 29, L/H I-L-6 ratio 2.9.
Female: unknown
Etymology. The species is named after Phobetor (Ancient Greek: Φοβήτωρ) who was a spirit of nightmares and who takes the shape of animals. The species name is a noun in apposition (in the nominative case), despite the Recommendation 31A of the ICZN (1999) about avoidance of personal names as nouns in appositions, because there is no case for it being confusing or misleading.
Discussion. Monatractides phobetor n. sp is closely related to M. synaptus (K. Viets, 1935), M. amabilis (Lundblad, 1941) and M. magnipharynx (Lundblad, 1941), all known from Java (K. Viets 1935, Lundblad 1971) characterized by the fusion of both frontal and shoulder platelets with the large dorsal plate. Due to the slender ventral setae on P-2 and P-3 the new species resembles M. amabilis (and differs from the two other species in having a denticle-like ventral seta on P-2 and -3). The new species can easily be distinguished from all abovementioned species by having V-shaped, proximally pointed gnathosomal bay with three pairs of knob-like protrusions at its lateral margins.
Habitat. Sandy/bouldery stream, shaded by rain forest.
Distribution. Borneo; known only from the locus typicus.
description: Published as part of Pešić, Vladimir & Smit, Harry, 2014, Torrenticolid water mites (Acari: Hydrachnidia: Torrenticolidae) from Malaysian Borneo, pp. 1-72 in Zootaxa 3840 (1) on pages 59-60, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3840.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4927892