An appraisal of the water mite genus Hygrobates Koch, 1837 from Türkiye, based on morphological and molecular data (Acariformes, Hydrachnidia, Hygrobatidae)

Abstract

Water mites of the genus Hygrobates Koch, 1837 are one of the most abundant water mite species in all kinds of running and standing waters in Türkiye. In this study, DNA barcodes were recovered from 26 specimens, morphologically assigned to five Hygrobates species. One species of the H. trigonicus species-complex (H. crypticus sp. nov.) from Eastern Türkiye, is described as new for science. Two species, Hygrobates thori and H. anatolicus were represented by two BINs. The first COI sequences is provided for Hygrobates anatolicus Esen & Pešić, 2013. The current diversity of the genus Hygrobates in Türkiye is discussed based on molecular and morphological data.

Integrative description of a new subspecies of the water mite genus Hygrobates Koch, 1837 from southwestern Türkiye (Acariformes, Hydrachnidia, Hygrobatidae)

“…Water mites of the genus Hygrobates Koch, 1837 are among the most common water mites in different types of running and standing waters all over the Palaearctic (Pešić et al 2017(Pešić et al , 2019(Pešić et al , 2020(Pešić et al , 2023. Traditionally, Hygrobates specimens with a lineated soft integument have been considered as representatives of H. calliger Piersig, 1896, a species considered a common inhabitant of lower, middle and high-order streams with a Palaearctic distribution (Matsumoto et al 2005;Gerecke et al 2016).…”