Two new species of the genus Arrenurus from Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia (Acari: Hydrchnidia: Arrenuridae)

Abstract

Few specimens of water mites have been collected from Pacific Island streams, especially higher elevation, head water streams. Uchida (1935, 1939) and Cook & Bright (1983) published 11 species of water mites from the Palau Islands, while Cook (1957) reported two Arrenurus species from the main island of Yap in the Caroline Island chain. Viets (1939) reported the occurrence of unnamed Arrenurus larvae from Hawaii, but Smit (2004) failed to find the adults. Smith & Cook (2004) described a new Piona species from Hawaii, but very likely this is an introduced species.

During an inventory of high elevation, head water streams on the island of Pohnpei, Federal States of Micronesia, two Arrenurus species new to science were collected. These were the only water mites collected, and they are described in this paper. The genus Arrenurus is the most speciose genus of all water mites. To date, more than 800 species are known. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution and occurs on every continent except Antarctica. Many Arrenurus species have a larval parasitic stage on odonates (Smith et al. 2009), which can explain there extended distribution, even to remote islands in the Pacific like Hawaii and Pohnpei. On these remote islands, Arrenurus species are the only water mite species found (apart from introduced species).

Citation

Smit, Harry. 2010. Two new species of the genus Arrenurus from Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia (Acari: Hydrchnidia: Arrenuridae). Zootaxa 2606:50-54.