Australian Arrenurus (Acari, Hydrachnidia) with the description of eleven new species
Author
Smit, Harry
text
Zootaxa
2010
2541
1
26
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.196693
bc71468f-9e9f-49e4-b1f1-9f234f7089cf
1175-5326
196693
Arrenurus (Micruracarus) forpicatoides
Lundblad, 1941
Material examined.
Tasmania. 1/0/0, Macquairy River at crossing with road C522, 41°
54.472 S
147°
23.546 E
,
28 March 2008
. Victoria. 8/9/0, Pool near Lake Catani, Mt. Buffalo NP, 36°
44.060 S
146°
48.698 E
, alt.
1300 m
a.s.l.,
10 March 2008
; 4/2/2/, Hedditch’s Waterhole, along road Nelson-Dartmoor, 38°
0 1.540 S
141°
16.882 E
,
3 April 2008
. New South
Wales
. 3/0/0, Little Llangothlin Nature Reserve, 30°
0 5.104 S
151°
46.564 E
, alt.
1353 m
a.s.l.,
21 November 2003
.
FIGURE 11A–C
.
Arrenurus postmai
Smit
, female: A = dorsal view; B = ventral view; C = lateral view. Scale bar = 200 µm.
Remarks.
Arrenurus
-species of the subgenus
Micruracarus
with a hyaline fork-shaped petiole form a complex group of species (
Smit 1999
). The idiosoma of
A. forpicatoides
is reddish-brown and males from this study are 664–753 long and 559–628 wide. A character not reported before is that I-leg-6 and II-leg-6 have numerous long, fine setae. Moreover, the fork-shaped petiole has a small triangular extension. The idiosoma of
A. queenslandicus
Smit
is green and males of this species have the cauda not set off from the remainder of the idiosoma, and the female has an incomplete dorsal shield. However, specimens from Emu Creek (see below) show a large variation in size and shape, some males have the cauda more or less distinctly set off from the remainder of the idiosoma. Apart from the colour, the only difference appears to be the shape of the petiole:
A. forpicatoides
has the petiole attached to the idiosoma with a hyaline membrane, while the petiole of
A. queenslandicus
is lying free because this hyaline membrane is very small. Females are more difficult to distinguish, as there is a large variation in shape of the genital plates, while the dorsal shield is either complete or incomplete (contrary to the original description). The colour of the idiosoma appears to be the only difference between females of the two species.
Distribution.
Tasmania, South
Australia
, Victoria. Here reported for the first time from New South
Wales
.