Lebertia algeriensis Lundblad, 1942

Pešić, Vladimir, Bankowska, Aleksandra, Goldschmidt, Tom, Hårsaker, Karstein, Jovanović, Milica, Kaitetzidou, Elisavet, Krakowiak, Maja, Kozłowska, Aleksandra, Michaloudi, Evangelia, Michoński, Grzegorz, Miliša, Marko, Pozojević, Ivana, Rewicz, Tomasz, Rusiniak, Oliwia, Sobolak, Karolina, Szućko, Izabela, Stryjecki, Robert, Stur, Elisabeth, Szlauer-Łukaszewska, Agnieszka, Szenejko, Magdalena & Zawal, Andrzej, 2025, Checklist of water mites from the Balkan Peninsula: second supplement, new DNA barcodes and description of a new species, Zootaxa 5676 (1), pp. 1-74 : 24

Lebertia algeriensis Lundblad, 1942 – complex ( Fig. 8C )

Published records: Greece: Pešić et al. (2021b).

Distribution: Western Mediterranean.

New barcode sequences: Greece: BOLD:AFC7652 (BSNTN1923-24).

BINs: BOLD:AFC7652, BOLD:AEJ1488.

BIN distribution: BOLD:AFC7652 ( Greece, North Macedonia), BOLD:AEJ1488 ( Greece, Slovakia, Madeira). Remarks: Genetic data indicate that populations keying to L. algeriensis in Gerecke (2009) include several distinct clusters, indicating the need for molecular and morphological re-definition of this species. Recently, Pešić et al. (2025b) assumed that L. algeriensis , found to be common in the running waters of Madeira, colonized this island recently in the last eighty years, or even the last 15 years, suggesting that it may be the first species of water mite documented as potentially, if not invasive, thus non-indigenous in freshwater ecosystems of Macaronesia.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Photographs of selected water mite species.A—Monatractides stadleri ♀ [BGE_00247_E08]; B—Limnesia walteri ♀ [BGE_00247_F11]; C—Lebertia algeriensis ♀ [BGE_00247_B11]. D—Lebertia variolata ♀ [BGE_00247_E09]. E— Hygrobates gr. trigonicus ♂ [BGE_00247_F05]. F—Atractides gr. robustus ♀ [BGE_00247_G03]. G—Mesobates forcipatus ♀, [BGE_00247_F07]. H—Mideopsis milankovici ♂ [BGE_00247_F12]. Scale bar 250 µm. Photos by Aina M. Aspaas, NTNU University Museum.