New Findings of Freshwater Halacarid mites (Acari: Halacaridae) in Mexico

Abstract

Freshwater Halacaridae are poorly known in Mexico. The only species reported so far is Limnohalacarus cultellatus Viets, 1940 from Quintana Roo, but the country is still a white spot for this group of mites. Recently, some halacarid specimens were collected in samples from two locations in Mexico City. Herein we present the records of two species: Porolohmanella violacea (Kramer, 1879), and Porohalacarus alpinus (Thor, 1910), which increase the number of epicontinental halacarids to three. These records are the first for the country and extend the known worldwide distribution range for each of these species. Future studies will certainly increase the number of halacarid species, and probably the percentage of species of these aquatic mites in Mexico.

Keywords

• New record
• water mites
• distribution range
• Porolohmanella
• Porohalacarus