The water mites (Acari: Hydrachnidia) of the Balkan peninsula, a revised survey with new records and descriptions of five new taxa

Abstract

Based on published records and original data from recent research, a list is presented of the water mite (Acari: Hydrachnidia) fauna of the Balkan countries, i.e. Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Greece. It includes 382 species and subspecies in 77 genera and 34 families. Numerous new records for national faunas are reported, and five taxa, Sperchon pelopeius (Greece), Atractides stankovici (Croatia), Axonopsis graeca (Greece), Woolastookia minuta (Bosnia and Hercegovina, Greece) and Arrenurus ornatus graecus (Greece) are described as new to science. Atractides moniezi (Motaş, 1927) is synonymized with A. lacustris (Lundblad, 1925). The assumption of K. O. Viets (1987) that Pionopsis subruber Đ orđević, 1903 is a synonym of P. lutescens (Hermann, 1804) is confirmed. The characteristics of the water mite fauna in the treated area are briefly outlined. Additional field work is highly desirable for a more appropriate evaluation of the extant water mite biodiversity in the Balkans.

Studies on European species of the water mite family Aturidae Thor (Acari: Hydrachnidia)

“…The taxonomic composition is somewhat casual: In addition to a detailed treatment of species of the subfamily Aturinae, a taxon widely understudied in Southern Europe, new data are included also for several axonopsine genera. Representatives of Axonopsinae, many of them deriving from collecting sites treated also in the present paper, have been reported in several papers published in the past two decades (Gerecke 1991b, 1994, Gerecke et al 2014, Gerecke & Di Sabatino 2013, Gerecke & Meyer 1989, Pešić & Gerecke 2003, Pešić et al 2010. Along with the information in these papers, data published here complete a new survey of the diversity of the family Aturidae in Southern Europe.…”

Two water mite species (Acari: Hydrachnidia) from karst springs new for the fauna of Croatia with notes on distribution and environmental preferences

“…Since the first checklist of water mites in Croatia (Pešić, 2002, with 48 species), information on the group was broadened in two occasions in the course of research on water mites of the Balkan Peninsula (Pešić et al, 2010(Pešić et al, , 2018. These checklists are missing records from Matoničkin & Pavletić (1959) [Woolastookia rotundifrons (K. Viets, 1922)] and the doctoral thesis of Lattinger (1988) [Partnunia angusta (Koenike, 1893), Panisus torrenticolus Piersig, 1898 and Protzia squamosa Walter, 1908].…”

Prey abundance supporting unusual water mite (Acari: Hydrachnidia) community in a sublacustrine spring and tributary river

“…A checklist of water mites in Croatia was published by Pešić (2002), which was later on broadened within the research on water mites of the Balkan Peninsula (Pešić et al, 2010(Pešić et al, , 2018. These check lists are missing records from Matoničkin and Pavletić (1959) (Woolastookia rotundifrons) and a doctoral thesis from Romana Latiger (1988) in which groundwater water mites were determined by Prof. Schwoerbel (Partnunia angusta, Panisus torrenticolus and Protzia squamosa).…”