Feltria (Feltria) tienshanensis, Pešić & Smit, 2025

Pešić, Vladimir & Smit, Harry, 2025, Two new species of the genus Feltria Koenike, 1892, with notes on the water mite fauna of Kyrgyzstan (Acari, Hydrachnidia), Zootaxa 5604 (1), pp. 29-40 : 33-36

Feltria (Feltria) tienshanensis sp. nov.

https://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D7D4C3C9-B896-4AA7-A2F3-D3194D9CE537

Figs. 3–4

Type material — Holotype ♂, dissected and slide mounted ( RMNH), Kyrgyzstan, river next to the road to Son-Kul Lake ( Fig. 5B ), 41º56.488’ N, 75º35.274’ E, 2426 m asl., 15.viii.2013, leg. Pešić & Smit. Paratypes: 3/30/0, same data as the holotype, 1♀ dissected and slide mounted ( RMNH) .

Other material — Kyrgyzstan: Dzhaman-Echki stream flowing into Son-Kul Lake , 41º55.482’ N, 75º11.861’ E, 3065 m asl., 16.viii.2013, leg. Smit 1/2/0 ( RMNH); Aktash river near Son-Kul lake, 41º51.549’ N, 75º20.129’ E, 3048 m asl., 16.viii.2013, leg. Pešić & Smit 0/1/0 ( RMNH).

Diagnosis —Both sexes: Coxal plates in four groups. Genital field with 40–55 pairs of Ac. Male: Frontal area with a pair of rod-shaped frontal plates including pre-antenniform glandularia, pre-ocular setae and Lgl-1+2; excretory pore plate and flanking glandularia fused to the posterior margin of the genital plate. III-L-6 with a rounded ventrolateral projection in the distal third, bearing 5–6 setae. Female: Frontal area with pre-antenniform glandularia, pre-ocular setae and Lgl-1 fused to each other; dorsum with a dorsal shield, much longer than wider, L/W ratio 1.3, surrounded by four rounded platelets. Excretory pore in posteroventral position. Palp slender than in male.

Description — Male (holotype): Idiosoma length 359 (paratypes [n=3] from river on the road to Son-Kul Lake 352–359 in lenght and 264–288 in width, length/width ratio 1.23–1.36). Dorsum with a large dorsal shield (including Dl-1-3 and Dgl-1-3), 291 in length and 241 width, Dgl-4+Dl-4 on a pair of large, transverse platelets ( Fig. 3A ). Coxal plates in four groups, close to each other, coxal field 269 in length, Cx-III 216 in width; Cx-IV posterior margin perpendicularly to longitudinal axis, ( Fig. 3B ).

Genital plate separated from Cx-IV by a narrow strip of membrane bearing the Vgl and a triangular lateral platelet, transverse, 100 in length and 270 in width, with 54–55 pairs of acetabula; gonopore short, length 14, in the center; platelet bearing the excretory pore broad, in the indentation of posterior margin of genital plate, fused to it ( Fig. 3B ).

Palp robust and stout, P-4 equally narrowed from base to tip ( Fig. 3C ); dorsal length/height of palpal segments: P-1, 23/31; P-2, 64/52; P-3, 33/41; P-4, 80/33; P-5, 42/20; length ratio P-2/P-4 0.8.

III-L-6 with a rounded ventrolateral projection in the distal third, bearing 5–6 setae ( Figs. 3D–E ); dorsal lengths of III-L-1-6: 28, 44, 54, 75, 88, 98; dorsal lengths of IV-L-1-6: 61, 45, 61, 92, 103, 113.

Female (from river next to the road to Son-Kul Lake; in parentheses some measurements of conserved specimens): Idiosoma 419 (422–466, n=5) in length and 359 (330–397, n=5) in width and 330–397 in width, length/ width ratio 1.17 (1.17–1.28, n=3); dorsal shield, including Dgl- 2, 313 in length and 238 in width; Dgl-1 on platelets anterolateral to dorsal shield margins. Dl-2 elongated, Dl-3 and Dgl-3 separate from each other, Dgl-4+Dl-4 on a pair of large, transverse platelets ( Fig. 4A ); excretory pore platelet broad, directed posteroventrally. Coxal field length 273, Cx-III width 256. Genital plates subtriangular, 116 in length and 123 in width, with about 40–52 pairs of acetabula.

Chaetotaxy of palp as given in Fig. 4C ; dorsal length/height of palpal segments: P-1, 21/23; P-2, 59/47; P-3, 34/35; P-4, 81/28; P-5, 45/17; length ratio P-2/P-4 0.73. Gnathosoma ventral length 108. III-L-6 without ventrolateral projection. Dorsal lengths of I-L-1-6: 41, 39, 45, 61, 67, 83; I-L-6 height 29, I-L-6 dorsal length/height ratio 2.9; dorsal lengths of IV-L-1-6: 72, 45, 63, 86, 97, 116.

Etymology —The new species is named after the Tien Shan Mountain range from where the new species was collected. The name is an adjective derived from a geographical name.

Discussion — Feltria kuluensis Tuzovskij, 1988 , with a distribution from the Far East of Russia (Magadan region; Tuzovskij 1988) to South Korea (Pešić et al. 2015) is similar to the new species in the shape of the male III-L-5/6 and the arrangement of dorsal sclerites in both sexes. At present state of knowledge, males of the new species are separated by the rod-shaped frontal plates that include praeantenniform glandularia, praeocular setae and Lgl-1+2 (in F. kuluensis frontal plates do not reach Lgl-2, see Tuzovskij 1988 fig. 7/1) and the excretory pore plate and the flanking glandularia fused to the posterior genital plate margin. The female of F. kuluensis can be distinguished by the dorsal shield only slightly longer than wide (length/width ratio 1.14 in F. kuluensis , data taken from Tuzovskij 1988; 1.3 in F. tienshahensis sp. nov.) and the frontal area with praeantenniform glandularia, praeocular setae and Lgl-1 all lying on separate platelets (see Tuzovskij 1988 fig. 7/5) (in F. tienshahensis sp. nov. pre-antenniform glandularia, pre-ocular setae and Lgl-1 fused to each other).

Feltria minuta Koenike, 1892 , differs in P-4 with both ventral setae on slightly elevated, parallel longitudinal extensions, and male IV-L-6 relatively shorter with ventrolateral extension bearing one fine seta and two enlarged, transparent setae, adpressed to each other and directed ventrally ( Gerecke et al. 2009).

Distribution — Kyrgyzstan; know from streams in the Tien Shan mountains at an elevation of about 2400–3100 meters.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Feltria tienshanensis sp. nov., ♂ holotype, river next to the road to Son-Kul Lake: A—Dorsum; B—Venter; C—Palp; D—I-L-5 and -6 (mounted); E—I-L-6 (unmounted). Scale bars = 100 µm.

FIGURE 4. Feltria tienshanensis sp. nov., ♀ paratype, river next to the road to Son-Kul Lake: A—Dorsum; B—Venter; C—Palp. Scale bars = 100 µm.

FIGURE 5. Photographs of sampling sites: A—Stream next to the road to May Saz pass, 2955 m asl., 12.viii.2013 (locus typicus of Feltria kyrgyzicus sp. nov.). B—River next to the road to Son-Kul Lake, 2426 m asl., 15.viii.2013 (locus typicus of Feltria tienshanensis sp. nov.). Photos by V. Pešić.