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

Abstract

Hygrobates specimens with a lineated soft integument have been identified as representatives of H. calliger Piersig, 1896, a species recently considered to be a species complex. In this paper, a highly supported phylogeny based on COI (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I) barcode sequences and species delimitation support the description of a new subspecies, i.e. H. ponticus yildirimi subsp. nov. from southwestern Türkiye. The new subspecies appears to be allopatric from the nominotypical subspecies H. ponticus ponticus Pešić, Esen & Mumladze, 2022 which is known from Georgia and Eastern Türkiye.