Frontipoda minutipalpis Smit, 2002, n. sp.
Creators: name: Smit, Harry
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2002
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Trombidiformes
Oxidae
Frontipoda
Frontipoda minutipalpis

description: Frontipoda minutipalpis n. sp.
(Figs. 1­8)
Material examined
Holotype, female: Lake Rotorua near Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand, 16 October 2000. Paratypes: 3 females (MNZW), 4 females (ZMAN), same data as holotype.
Diagnosis
Palp small, PIV and PV fused.
Description
Female: body 713 (616­697) long, 429 (405­437) wide and 567 (506­535) high. Body laterally compressed, expanded coxal area with 13 pairs of glandularia. Unsclerotised dorsal strip without glandularia, but with a long sclerotized strip (not visible in teneral specimens); anteriorly a pair of small setae each on its own, small platelet. Tip of first coxal plates with a tube of soft integument. Genital field surrounded by the expanded coxal area. Genital field 216 long. Three pairs of acetabula, acetabula pointed anteriorly and posteriorly. Genital flaps bearing a row of small setae near medial margin. Excretory pore on a small, triangular sclerite. Capitulum long and narrow. Length of PI 20, PII 35, PIII 27 and PV+PV 14. PII inflated, PIII stocky. Lengths of I­leg­4­6:52, 80, 74; I­leg­1 with a large, pectinate seta and three smaller setae. Lengths of IV­leg­4­6: 104, 172, 160; IV­leg­6 distally with two long and one shorter pectinate setae, the longest of these 98 long. IV­leg­5 with 11 swimming setae.
Male: Unknown.
Figures 1­3. Frontipoda minutipalpis n. sp., 1, paratype female, ventral view; 2, paratype female, dorsal view; 3, holotype female, lateral view
Etymology
Named for its very small palp.
Remarks
Lundblad (1947) erected the genus Flabellifrontipoda. The genus was close to Frontipoda, but differed in claws with numerous clawlets, a medial ventral suture line and tips of first coxal plates with a fan­shaped structure, for which he named the new genus. With the description of more species, it became evident that the only character which separates Flabellifrontipoda from Frontipoda was the presence of a comb of numerous clawlets on the claw (Cook 1983). Viets (1978) concluded therefore, that only a subgeneral status for Flabellifrontipoda was warranted. Cook (1983) however retained Flabellifrontipoda as a genus because of its Gondwanan distribution and the claw character, but still had doubts about its taxonomic position.
The new species is closely related to Flabellifrontipoda cramerae Cook, F. ladifola Cook and F. reductipalpa Cook. In these three species there has been a reduction in PIV and PV, and PIII has taken over the usual function of PIV (Cook 1983). In F. reductipalpa PIV and PV are fused, but area of fusion is still discernible. In the new species, PIV and PV are completely fused without a trace of a suture line. The new species, however, is without a claw with a comb of clawlets, which is present in the three Flabellifrontipoda ­ species.
In a recent paper on the water mites from New Caledonia (Smit 2002) I described five new Frontipoda species. Thus, the majority of Frontipoda species is known from the austral region of the world. Therefore, I concluded that the genus Frontipoda (together with Oxus and Flabellifrontipoda) forms an ancient Gondwanan element. This, together with the finding of the new Frontipoda, confirms in my opinion the conclusion of Viets (1978) that for Flabellifrontipoda only a subgeneric status of Frontipoda is warranted. This affects the following species: Frontipoda (Flabellifrontipoda) allarka (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) allasa (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) bravana (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) carteza (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) crameri (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) dolichopalpis (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) eloma (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) hadinoma (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) lacustris (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) ladilofa (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) longipalpa (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) mastigophora (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) penai (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) reductipalpa (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) smithi (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) striata (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) tranasa (Cook) nov. comb., F. (Flabellifrontipoda) unoka (Cook) nov. comb. and F. (Flabellifrontipoda) zadina (Cook) nov. comb. Species not mentioned here are already listed by Viets (1987).
description: Published as part of Smit, Harry, 2002, Two new water mite species from New Zealand (Acari: Hydrachnidia), pp. 1-10 in Zootaxa 61 on pages 2-5, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.156146