Abstract
A new species belonging to the Torrenticola ungeri complex, T. galaica sp. nov., is described from northwestern Portugal. It differs from other closely related congeners by its roundish idiosoma, distinctive dorsal shield shape and color pattern, and divergent DNA barcode sequences. Additionally, Torrenticola ungeri disparilis Walter, 1947, previously synonymized with T. ungeri ungeri (Szalay, 1927), is resurrected as a valid subspecies. New faunistic data from Portugal based on DNA barcoding are presented, with six species recorded for the first time for Portugal.
References
- Cicolani, B. & Di Sabatino, A. (1990) Recherches faunistiques et écologiques sur la Hydracariens del’Apennin (Italie). Le genre Torrenticola Piersig (Acari, Actinedida, Torrenticolidae). Annales de Limnologie – International Journal of Limnology, 26 (2–3), 153–176. https://doi.org/10.1051/limn/1990014
- Cook, D.R. (1967) Water mites from India. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute, 9, 1–411.
- Di Sabatino, A. & Cicolani, B. (1990) Torrenticola meridionalis n. sp., a new species of water mites (Acari, Actinedida, Torrenticolidae) from the calabrian apennines (South Italy). Lauterbornia, 5, 43–48.
- Di Sabatino, A., Gerecke, R., Gledhill, T. & Smit, H. (2010) Acari: Hydrachnidia II. In: Gerecke, R. (Ed.), Chelicerata: Acari II. Süßwasserfauna von Mitteleuropa. Vol. 7. 2–2. Elsevier Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, pp. 1–234. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-8274-2266-8_1
- Di Sabatino, A., Gerecke, R., Smit, H., Pesic, V. & Panesar, A. (2003) Water mites of the family Torrenticolidae (Acari, Actinedida, Hydrachnidia) from the Eastern Mediterranean region. Archiv für Hydrobiologie Supplement, 139 (3), 1–39.
- Edgar, R.C. (2004) MUSCLE: multiple sequence alignment with high accuracy and high 679 throughput. Nucleic acids research, 32 (5), 1792–1797. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkh340
- Erman, O., Pešić, V., Esen, Y. & Özkan, M. (2010) A checklist of the water mites of Turkey (Acari: Hydrachnidia) with description of two new species. Zootaxa, 2624 (1), 1–48. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.2624.1.1
- Felsenstein, J. (1985) Confidence limits on phylogenies: An approach using the bootstrap. Evolution, 39, 783–791. https://doi.org/10.2307/2408678
- Gerecke, R., Gledhill, T., Pešić, V. & Smit, H. (2016) Chelicerata: Acari III. In: Gerecke, R. (Ed.), Süßwasserfauna von Mitteleuropa, Bd. 7/2-3. Springer-Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg, pp. 1–429. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-8274-2689-5
- Kimura, M. (1980) A simple method for estimating evolutionary rate of base substitutions through comparative studies of nucleotide sequences. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 16, 111–120. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01731581
- Lundblad, O. (1956) Zur Kenntnis süd- und mitteleuropäischer Hydrachnellen. Arkiv för Zoology, 10 (1), 1–306.
- Lundblad, O. (1971) Weitere Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Fliesswassermilben Javas. Arkiv för Zoology, 23, 293–359.
- Pešić, V. & Goldschmidt, T. (2023) New DNA-assisted records of water mites from Sardinia, with the description of a new species (Acari, Hydrachnidia). Ecologica Montenegrina, 69, 24–44. https://doi.org/10.37828/em.2023.69.4
- Pešić, V. & Smit, H. (2022) Water mites of Corsica: DNA barcode and morphological evidences. International Journal of Acarology, 48, 418–428. https://doi.org/10.1080/01647954.2022.2086619
- Pešić, V., Semenchenko, K., Chatterjee, T., Yam, R.S.W. & Chan, B.K.K. (2011) New records of water mites of the family Torrenticolidae (Acari, Hydrachnidia) with descriptions of two new species from Nanshih River system in Taiwan and redescription of Torrenticola ussuriensis (Sokolow, 1940) from the Russian Far East. ZooKeys, 116, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.116.1253
- Pešić, V., Valdecasas, A.G. & García-Jimenez, R. (2012) Simultaneous evidence for a new species of Torrenticola Piersig, 1896 (Acari, Hydrachnidia) from Montenegro. Zootaxa, 3515 (1), 38–50. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3515.1.2
- Pešić, V., Semenchenko, K. & Lee, W. (2013a) Torrenticolid water mites from Korea and the Russian Far East. ZooKeys, 299, 21–48. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.299.5272
- Pešić, V., Chatterjee, T., Das, M. & Bordoloi, S. (2013b) A new species of water mite (Acari, Hydrachnidia) from Assam, India, found in the gut contents of the fish Botia dario (Botiidae). Zootaxa, 3746 (3), 454–462. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3746.3.4
- Pešić, V., Asadi, M., Etemadi, I. & Smit, H. (2019) New records of water mites (Acari: Hydrachnidia) from the Khuzestan Province (South Iran) with description of three new species. Zootaxa, 4559 (3), 550–558. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4559.3.5
- Pešić, V., Jovanović, M., Manović, A., Karaouzas, I. & Smit, H. (2021) New records of water mites from the Balkans revealed by DNA barcoding (Acari, Hydrachnidia). Ecologica Montenegrina, 49, 20–34. https://doi.org/10.37828/em.2021.49.2
- Pešić, V., Smit, H. & Gurung, M.M. (2022a) Torrenticolid water mites of Bhutan. Genera Torrenticola Piersig, 1896 and Neoatractides Lundblad, 1941 (Acari: Hydrachnidia: Torrenticolidae). Acarologia, 62 (3), 821–860. https://doi.org/10.24349/xn0u-5px2
- Pešić, V., Smit, H., Sharma, N., Kamal Rana, K., Bahuguna, P. & Rayal, R. (2022b) First DNA barcodes of water mites from the Indian Himalayas with description of two new species (Acari, Hydrachnidia). International Journal of Acarology, 48 (6), 479–485. https://doi.org/10.1080/01647954.2022.2130424
- Pešić, V., Jovanović, M., Espiridiao Oliveira, A., Pedro, A., Freira, M. & Morais, M.M. (2023a) New records of water mites (Acari, Hydrachnidia) from Portugal revealed by DNA barcoding, with the description of Atractides marizae sp.nov. ZooKeys, 1151, 205–222. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1151.100766
- Pešić, V., Zawal, A., Saboori, A., Bańkowska, A., Cakmak, I. & Smit, H. (2023b) New records of water mites (Acari, Hydrachnidia) from Iran and Türkiye based on morphology and DNA barcodes with description of one new species. Ecologica Montenegrina, 66, 11–29. https://doi.org/10.37828/em.2023.66.2
- Pešić, V., Zawal, A., Ferreira, S., Benitez-Bosco, L., Cruz-Oliveira, A., Girão, D., Padilha, A., Turaccio, P., Rossini, S., Ballini, L., Staffoni, G., Fratini, S., Ciofi, C., Iannucci, A., Ekrem, T. & Stur, E. (2024a) DNA barcode library of Portuguese water mites, with the descriptions of two new species (Acari, Hydrachnidia). ZooKeys, 1217, 119–171. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1217.131730
- Pešić, V., Smit, H., Girão, D., Iannucci, A., Stur, E. & Ferreira, S. (2024b) New records of aturid water mites from Portugal, with the integrative description of one new species (Acari, Hydrachnidia, Aturidae). Ecologica Montenegrina, 80, 209–219. https://doi.org/10.37828/em.2024.80.19
- Pešić, V., Konopleva, E.S., Ianucci, A., Ferreira, S. & Stur, E. (2025a) Molecular phylogeny reveals three new water mite species of the genus Teutonia Koenike, 1889, from Portugal (Acari, Hydrachnidia, Teutoniidae). Systematic & Applied Acarology, 30 (2), 381–401. https://doi.org/10.11158/saa.30.2.14
- Pešić, V., Zawal, A., Bańkowska, A., Araujo, R., Sługocki, Ł., Rewicz, T., Krakowiak, M., Michoński, G., Girão, D., Silva, L.P.d., Órfão, I., M. Raposeiro, P., Ballini, L., Stryjecki, R., Ekrem, T. & Ferreira, S. (2025b) Exploring the water mite fauna (Acari, Hydrachnidia) of the Madeira archipelago: DNA Barcoding reveals a remarkable species endemicity. Zootaxa, 5621 (5), 501–513. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5621.5.1
- Pešić, V., Zawal, A., Bańkowska, A. & Smit, H. (2025c) Revision of DNA barcode records of selected torrenticolid mites (Acari, Hydrachnidia, Torrenticolidae) from the Balkan Peninsula, with the description of a new species from Montenegro. Ecologica Montenegrina, 89, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.37828/em.2025.89.1
- Ratnasingham, S. & Hebert, P.D.N. (2007) BOLD: The barcode of life data system. Molecular Ecology Notes, 7, 355–364. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-8286.2007.01678.x
- Szalay, L. (1964) Víziatkák Hydracarina. Fauna Hungariae. Vol. 72. Akademiei Kiado, Budapest, 380 pp. [in Hungarian]
- Tamura, K., Stecher, G. & Kumar, S. (2021) MEGA 11: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis Version 11. MolecularBiology and Evolution, 38 (7), 3022–3027. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab120
- Tuzovskij, P.V. (2015) First Record of the Water Mite Torrenticola ungeri (Szalay, 1927) (Acari, Hydrachnidia, Torrenticolidae) from Russia. Ecologica Montenegrina, 2 (3), 242–246. https://doi.org/10.37828/em.2015.2.28
- Viets, K.O. (1958) Wassermilben aus der Schwechat (Wienerwald). Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse, Abteilung 1, 167 (1–2), 59–81. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-24713-6_1
- Walter, C. (1947) Neue Acari (Hydrachnellae, Porohalacaridae, Thrombidiidae) aus subterranen Gewässern der Schweiz und Rumäniens. Verhandlungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Basel, 58, 146–238.
- Wiles, P.R. (1997) Asian and Oriental Torrenticolidae Piersig, 1902 (Acari: Hydrachnidia: Lebertioidea): a revision of the family and description of new species of Torrenticola Piersig and Pseudotorrenticola Walter, from Southeast Asia. Journal of Natural History, 31, 191–236. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222939700770121
