Praethecacineta halacari

Praethecacineta halacari (Schulz, 1933)

= Thecacineta halacari Schulz, 1933

= Lissacineta allgeni Jankowski, 1981

Records on halacarid mites: The species was previously observed near the Norwegian coast (Tromsø) and in Kiel Bay (Schulz, 1933) on unidentified halacarids. Precht (1935) later identified P. halacari on Copidognathus spp. in the latter locality.

Hamond (1970) reported this species on halacarid mites Copidognathus fabricii (Lohmann, 1889) and C. oculatus (Hodge, 1863) at the sea coast of Norfolk, eastern England. Rare instances of the species are also known from the Bulgarian coast of the Black Sea (Detcheva 1992).

Praethecacineta halacari was found on the legs and body surface (both ventrally and dorsally) of Copidognathus brachystomus Viets, 1940 from the Black Sea near Karadag Natural Reserve, Kurortnoye, Crimea (Boshko & Dovgal 2004). It was also recorded in interstitial sand at Cape Martian Reserve near the village of Nikita in the Yalta region, Crimea, from an unidentified halacarid mite (Gelmboldt & Dovgal 2005).

Dovgal et al. (2008a) identified among the suctorians observed by Bartsch (1989, 1998, 2001b, 2003), several individuals of P. halacari on the idiosomas of the following halacarid mites: C. brachystomus Viets 1940, C. magnipalpus (Police, 1909), and Halacarellus hyrcanus (Viets, 1928) (= Caspihalacarus hyrcanus Viets, 1928) from Black Sea soft sediment (Bartsch 2001b); H. hyrcanus from the Caspian Sea (Bartsch 1998); C. brifacius Bartsch 1989 from sandy deposits from the North Sea (Bartsch 1989); and on the idiosoma and gnathosoma of C. meridianus Bartsch 2003 off the coast of Western Аustralia (Bartsch 2003) based on figures drawn by those authors.

Dovgal et al. (2008a) identified P. halacari on the idiosoma of C. tupinamborum Pepato & Tiago, 2005 from the Аtlantic coast of Brazil based on the figure 1B in Pepato & Tiago (2005).

Dovgal et al. (2008a) also reported P. halacari on C. arabicus Chatterjee & Chang, 2004 collected from Goa on the west coast of India (Аrabian Sea). Seven of the 33 mites were infested by suctorians. They commented that P. halacari was found on C. arabicus, but not on species of the co-occurring genera Rhombognathus and Agauopsis.

Dovgal et al. (2009b) reported P. halacari on Copidognathus sp. from He-Ping-Dao, north-east of Taiwan, west Pacific Ocean, among intertidal coralline algae in exposed rocky shores. They also reported P. halacari on Copidognathus ungujaensis Chatterjee, De Troch & Chang, 2006 from Matemwe, the east coast of Unguja, Zanzibar, Tanzania (west Indian Ocean) among coral rubble of Fungia and on one halacarid mite from Nova Scotia, St Margaret’s Bay, Canada (north-western Аtlantic) in intertidal algae of the genus Enteromorpha on a rocky coast.

Normant et al. (2013) reported P. halacari on Copidognathus sp. from the brackish waters of the Gulf of Gdańsk associated with the Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis.

Chatterjee et al. (2014) reported four ciliates of this species on legs of a halacarid mite, Copidognathus sp., from Brunei Darussalam, Brunei Bay, Pulau Bedukang.

Bartsch (2015a) reported P. halacari (Schulz, 1933) on Acarothrix grandocularis Chatterjee, 2012, Agaue galatea Oto, 1999, C. presidents Bartsch, 1992 and Rhombognathus aspidotus Bartsch, 2006 from Singapore.

Durucan & Boyaci (2016) reported this species as epibiont on Copidognathus sp. from Аlgarve region of Аlbuferia coast, Portugal.

Remarks: This species recorded only from halacarid mites.