An Unrecorded Species of the Genus Isobactrus (Acari, Halacaridae) Inhabiting Marine Plastic Debris from Jeju Island, Korea

Abstract

We discovered a halacarid mite species, Isobactrus tuberculatus Abé, 1996, inhabiting marine plastic debris on the coast of Jeju Island, Korea. The key characteristics of these Korean specimens were consistent with those in the original description of specimens from Hokkaido, Japan, including the presence of tuberculate membranous cuticles between the anterior and posterior dorsal plates, fusion of the posterior epimeral plates I and II, tibia II with a bipectinate seta, tibiae III and IV each with five setae, and a pair of subgenital setae in females. However, two small morphological differences were noted: the distance between the anterior and posterior dorsal plates was shorter than that in Japanese specimens, and the location of dorsal seta-2 was closer to the anterior dorsal plate in Korean specimens. We herein provide detailed illustrations of I. tuberculatus, based on the Korean specimens, with a brief taxonomic comment on the similarities among allied congeneric species. The genus Isobactrus is first reported in Korea.