Atractides curtisetus, n. sp.
Creators: name: Smit, Harry
name: Pešić, Vladimir
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Trombidiformes
Hygrobatidae
Atractides
Atractides curtisetus

description: Atractides curtisetus n. sp.
(Figs. 18A–G)
Type series. Holotype female, dissected and slide mounted, Little Lumotok stream, Sayap, Mt Kinabalu, Borneo, Malaysia, 6° 0 9.467 N 116° 34.027 E, alt. 1069 m asl., 17-ix-2012 (RMNH).
Diagnosis (Male unknown). Median sutures Cx-I short, posteromedial margin Cx-I+II rounded, P4 sword seta and ventral setae inserted far distally; I-leg little modified, setae S-1 and -2 homoiomorphic and short, enlarged in basal third, side by side, flagellar seta short and weakly modified, I-leg-6 nearly straight.
Description. Female. Integument dorsally striated, muscle insertions unsclerotized. Coxal field: Cx-I+II long and slender, posteromedial margin sharply rounded, Cx-II apodemes in an acute angle, Cx-III+IV slender, suture line Cx-III/IV in medial part nearly straight (Fig. 18A). Genital field: Ac in a curved line. Palp: ventral margin of P- 2 in the centre concave, slightly convex in the distal half, without extensions, P-3 slightly concave, P-4 nearly straight, sword seta and ventral setae inserted far distally (Fig. 18D). Legs: I-leg little modified, I-leg-5 with little diverging, straight dorsal and ventral margins, setae S-1 and -2 homoiomorphic and short, enlarged in basal third, side by side, flagellar seta short and weakly modified, I-leg-6 nearly straight, dorsal and ventral margins equally diverging from the base to the claw furrow, but with the typical setae groups, claw strong (Fig. 18B).
Measurements —Idiosoma length/width 628/446; coxal field: length 375; Cx-III width 400; Cx-I+II medial length 182, lateral length 273; genital field length/width 133/141, genital plates length 100–105; length Ac 1–3: 38–40, 38–41, 38.
Palp: Total length 253, dorsal length/height, dorsal length/height ratio: P1, 28/27, 1.03; P2, 55/38.5, 1.44; P3, 70/34, 2.1; P4, 74/21.5, 3.44; P5, 26/14, 1.9; length P2/P4 ratio 0.75. Capitulum length 134; chelicera total length 197, claw length 56, basal segment length 148, length basal segment/claw ratio 2.64.
Legs: I-leg-5 dorsal length 112, ventral length 91, dorsal length/ventral length ratio 1.23, maximum height 32, dorsal length/maximum height 3.47, S-1 length 34, length/width ratio 5.5, S-2 length 32, length/width ratio 4.8, distance S-1-2 0, length ratio S-1/2 1.05; I-leg-6 length 123, maximum height (HC sensu Gerecke 2003) 31, length/ central height ratio 4.0; length I-leg-5/6 ratio 0.91.
Male: unknown.
Etymology. Named for the short sword seta of I-leg-5.
Remarks. The new species is unique among Oriental representatives of the genus in the combination of P-4 sword and ventral setae placed far distally and a slightly modified I-leg, with terminal segments at first view appearing equal in shape to II/III-leg. Due to the unbowed terminal segment of I-leg the new species is similar to members of the subgenus Megabates K. Viets. However, as mentioned by Gerecke (2003), the latter character is described in many Atractides s. str. species, suggesting that most probably Megabates is a synonym of Atractides. Atractides (Megabates) orientalis (Cook, 1967) differs in having short and stocky palp segments, with P-4 ventral setae inserted more proximally, capitulum with elongated and pointed rostrum, chelicerae with a long claw and a more stouter I-leg-5 and -6 (see Cook 1967).
Atractides chelidon Gerecke 2003, a hyporheobiontic species, has a similar morphology of palp and I-L, but differs in the absence of lateral eyes, short median sutures Cx-I, and setae S-1 and -2 slender and more pointed (see Gerecke 2003).
Distribution. Borneo; known only from the locus typicus.
description: Published as part of Smit, Harry & Pešić, Vladimir, 2014, Water mites from Mount Kinabalu and the Crocker Range, Borneo, Malaysia (Acari: Hydrachnidia), with the description of 34 new species, pp. 1-71 in Zootaxa 3876 (1) on pages 32-33, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3876.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/287281