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Acarina 25 (2): 181–189 © Acarina 2017 FIRST DATA ON AQUATIC MITES (ACARI) OF INLAND WATER BODIES OF WEST SPITSBERGEN, SVALBARD Elena S. Chertoprud1,2, Olga L. Makarova2* and Anna A. Novichkova1,2 1Lomonosov Moscow State University, Biological Faculty, Moscow, Russia 2Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia *corresponding author; e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT: This paper presents the first results of a study on the aquatic mites (Acari) from the inland water bodies of West Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Six mite species have been found: namely, the oribatids Camisia foveolata Hammer, 1955 and Ameronothrus lineatus (Thorell, 1871); the gamasid mite Halolaelaps sp.; as well as the halacarids Halacarellus sp., Isobactrus levis (Viets, 1927) and Rhombognathides spinipes (Viets, 1933). The latter two species are new to the fauna of Svalbard. No true freshwater mites (Hydrachnidia) have been identified. A preliminary comparison of the inland aquatic acarofauna of Svalbard with the fauna of other Arctic regions has been conducted. The entire halacarid mite fauna of Svalbard (13 species), including both inland water species and true marine ones from the surrounding seas, can be characterized as rather regionally specialized and mainly cryophilic. KEY WORDS: Halacaridae, Oribatida, Mesostigmata, new records, geographical range, High Arctic, amphibious species, eury- haline species, freshwater species. DOI: 10.21684/0132-8077-2017-25-2-181-189 INTRODUCTION Aquatic mites of the inland waters in the Arctic mate (Coulson 2007; Coulson et al. 2014). How- are still poorly known. They belong to two taxo- ever, the faunas of temporary pools, ditches, spring nomically remote groups of the suborder Prostig- mosses and wetlands are insufficiently explored. mata, order Trombidiformes, i.e. the “true” fresh- Thus, the latest catalogues of terrestrial and fresh- water mites Hydrachnidia (cohort Parasitengonina) water invertebrates of Svalbard make no mention and the mostly marine mites of the family Halac- of water mites being present in the main part of the aridae (cohort Eupodina). Parasitic larvae of Hy- archipelago (Coulson and Refseth 2004; Coulson drachnidia feed on and are dispersed by insects, 2012). The same concerns the recent review of while deutonymphs and adult mites are predators. biodiversity of the Barents Sea archipelagoes Most of the species of Halacaridae populate sea (Coulson et al. 2014), although some data on the bottom habitats. Whereas freshwater forms are presence of brackish and freshwater mite species rather rare, euryhaline species are numerous. The in West Spitsbergen have been published (Bartsch family Halacaridae includes both phytophagous 1978, 2009). Bear Island, which is officially con- (mostly algophagous) and predatory forms (Bartsch sidered part of the Svalbard Archipelago, is known 1989, 2008). Although a significant amount of data to support one hydrachnid species (references in on freshwater mites of the Low Arctic is available Coulson and Refseth 2004). (Viets 1928; Sokolov 1952; Habeeb 1957; Bartsch The objective of the present study is, therefore, 1978, 2011; Semenchenko et al. 2010; Gerecke to fill the aforementioned lacuna. For the first time, 2015), information on the faunas of the High Arc- we have focused on aquatic mites that inhabit vari- tic areas is scarce (Bartsch 1978; Danks 1981; ous types of inland waters of Svalbard. This group Gerecke 2015). often constitutes an important part of the species The Svalbard Archipelago is an internationally richness and abundance of arthropods in temporary valuable and sensitive High Arctic area with a and perennial freshwater, as well as brackish water considerable amount of various water bodies. bodies (Mokievsky 2009). Freshwater and brackish habitats—such as springs, rivers, lakes, ponds, and lagoons—are numerous, MATERIAL AND METHODS covering about 2% of the total land area (Hisdal Svalbard is composed of a group of islands, 1998). Most of the water bodies on the arctic islands including West Spitzbergen (or Spitsbergen in Rus- are small, shallow (Janiec 1996), and can freeze sian toponymy), which is the largest and the only solid in the winter (Pienitz et al. 2008). During the permanently populated body of land on the archi- summer, there is an extensive development of pelago. The survey was performed in the central and micro-invertebrates whose diversity responds to western parts of West Spitsbergen in 2014–2015 the environmental variables controlled by the cli- (Fig. 1). 181 E.S. Chertoprud, O.L. Makarova and A.A. Novichkova Fig. 1. Sampling localities on West Spitsbergen, Svalbard, in 2014 and 2015. Climate. Svalbard lies within an area of interac- gushin and Osipova 1989). Most of them freeze to tion of the warm North Atlantic Current and the the bottom in winter (Pienitz et al. 2008). More- cold, ice-covered Arctic Ocean in the zone of a over, there are lots of coastal lake-like lagoons stable west-east transport of air masses (Dolgushin along the seashore (Coulson et al. 2014). and Osipova 1989). The rate of annual precipitation Study sites. Samples were taken between Au- on the west coast of Spitzbergen averages 500 mm gust 18th and 24th, 2014 in the Isfjorden area alone, (COAT). Positive air temperatures are usually ob- as well as between August 17th and 22nd, 2015 both served for four months a year. The average tem- in the Isfjorden area and near the Ny-Ålesund Vil- perature in the warmest months, July and August, lage (Kongsfjorden area). Sampling was con- is 4–6 °С. In winter, the mean monthly temperatures ducted in different parts around Isfjorden [Long- rarely rise above −12 to −16 °С, even on the west yearbyen (4 mixed samples), Aldegondabreen (21), coast, which faces the warm waters of the West Grønfjordbreen (11), Randvika (13), Barentsburg Spitsbergen Current (Nordli 2005). (2), Ymerbukta (4), Pyramiden (6), Kapp Napier Inland water bodies. Rivers in Svalbard feed (6), Diabassoden (2)] and Kongsfjorden [Ny- on melting snow or glacial ice and usually originate Ålesund (12) and Gåsebu (6)]. Altogether, 11 on glaciers’ edges (Pechurov 1983). The hydro- sampling localities were visited and 87 samples logical activity is characterized by considerable were taken from water bodies of various size and seasonal and daily flow fluctuations. The water in depth. the rivers is very cold, with the summer tempera- According to the size, sampling sites were catego- tures of only a few degrees above zero. The rivers rized into four classes: puddles (area < 0.01 ha)—28 freeze solid in the winter and sometimes dry up sampling sites; small ponds (from 0.01 to 0.1 ha)—19 during autumn. sampling sites; large ponds (from 0.1 to 1.0 ha)—18 There are relatively few large lakes in Svalbard, sampling sites; lakes (more than 1 ha)—17 sampling with the maximum linear size of more than 10 km sites. In this survey, six oligo- or mesohaline lagoons (Hisdal 1998). However, there are numerous small were also studied, as well as the coastal zone of two shallow lakes (ponds) and puddles, with mostly large lakes: Linné Lake (surface area 4.6 km2) and stony bottoms, bounded with permafrost (Dol- Bretjørna Lake (surface area 1.3 km2). 182 Aquatic mites of inland water bodies of West Spitsbergen Aquatic mites were found only in six samples, Sokolov (1952), Blaszak and Ehrnsberger (1998), whose general characteristics are presented in Weigmann (2006), Bartsch (2006a, b) and Ma- Table 1. Half of the samples were taken from the karova (2015a). The slides with mounted mite brackish puddles along the seashore, and the others specimens of all recovered species, as well as the were related to freshwater puddles on moraines in main part of the material on oribatid Camisia fo- glacier areas. veolata Hammer, 1955 (58 specimens in 96% al- Sampling and species identification.Samples cohol) have been deposited in the Natural History were obtained from the shores of the water bodies. Museum, University of Oslo, Sars Gate 1, NO-0562 Three substrate portions were taken for each mixed Oslo, Norway. sample. Meiobenthic samples were taken with a plastic tube (2 cm in diameter). A column of the RESULTS upper sediment layer (3–4 cm) was pushed out from A total of six species of Acari were found in the tube with a plunger and preserved with 96% the present survey (Table 2), namely, two oribatid ethanol. Thus, sampling of aquatic mites was per- species, one gamasid and three prostigmatic mite formed together with other groups of meiobenthos species. The latter trio belongs to the mainly marine (Copepoda, Cladocera, Tardigrada and Nematoda). family Halacaridae. Two halacarid species are new In addition, samples of zooplankton were taken to the Svalbard fauna. No true freshwater mites using a net (100 mm in diameter, 50 µm in mesh (Hydrachnidia) have been identified in the water size). However, mites in the net сatches were to- bodies of Svalbard. tally absent. Most mite species were observed in a single As for the primal sample treatment, the sedi- water body (i.e., one species per water body), and ment patterns were washed with filtered fresh were represented only by a few specimens. This is water through a gauze net with a 50 µm mesh. The very distinct from the situation with meiobenthic arthropods were out of the residual matter in Bo- crustaceans in the same material. The latter were gorov’s counting chambers under a stereo micro- recorded in 94% of the samples numbering more scope with 32х magnification. Iodine alcohol sol- than 5,000 specimens in total. vent coloring was used in order to recognize the organisms more easily. DISCUSSION The mites were mounted on permanent slides using Hoyer’s medium. Their identification was The fauna of aquatic mites in the European conducted with light microscopy at 200–400х mag- sector of the Arctic (Viets 1928; Sokolov 1952; nifications. The following handbooks were used: Bartsch 1978, 2009) and Greenland (Gerecke 2015) Table 1 Characteristics of the samples from Spitsbergen where aquatic mites were found Samples Type Salinity, Average Locality Date pH Eh, μS Temp, oC Coordinates No.

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