Anthalona harti harti Van Damme et al., 2011

(Fig. 6A–G)

Diagnosis. Parthenogenetic female. Body length 0.30–0.37 mm, body oval in lateral view (Fig. 6A). Carapace smooth or ornamented with fine striae (Fig. 6A, F). Cosmaria of lateral head pores flower-like (Fig. 6G); width of cosmaria exceeds the distance between the major head pores (Fig. 6G). Labral keel with a tooth at its anterior margin, bearing a short setula (Fig 6B). Postabdomen of characteristic shape, with a rounded distal angle (Fig. 6D). Postanal margin with 5–6 short solitary spines (Fig. 6E). Inner distal lobe of thoracic limb I with only two setae (2 and 3), both bearing hook-like spines; distal end of setae 2 and 3 finely setulated, shorter than the distalmost spine (Fig. 6C).

Remarks. This is a new record for Tajikistan, the taxon is also newly recorded in Middle Asia. The species was observed in lakes Jirikul and Halkakul in the Tigrovaya Balka National Reserve (locs. 1–3). In most morphological features, the studied populations agree with the taxon diagnosis (Van Damme et al. 2011, Sinev & Kotov 2012), despite flower-like pattern of the cosmaria and fine striation of the carapace which are more typical for Anthalona mediterranea (Yalim & Çýplak, 2005). Also, the studied individuals possessed very large cosmaria of lateral pores (Fig. 6G). This trait is unusual for the known species of Anthalona, which have cosmaria as wide as the length between the major head pores, or smaller (Van Damme et al. 2011; Tiang-nga et al. 2016). However, we identify the studied populations as belonging to Anthalona harti harti based on morphology of labrum, postabdomen and thoracic limb I. The latter species is widespread in tropics and subtropics of the Old World, including Africa, Mediterranean and Indo-Malaysian region. The northernmost populations of A. harti harti occur in Caucasus coast of the Black Sea (Korovchinsky & Kotov 2021) and in Central China (Dadykin et al. 2023).