Cheiroseius aff. neophalangioides Mineiro, Lindquist & Moraes

Rueda-Ramírez, Diana, Varela, Amanda & De Moraes, Gilberto J., 2016, Soil mites of the families Ascidae, Blattisociidae and Melicharidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) from mountainous areas of Colombia, Zootaxa 4127 (3), pp. 493-514 : 507-508

Cheiroseius aff. neophalangioides Mineiro, Lindquist & Moraes

near Cheiroseius neophalangioides Mineiro, Lindquist & Moraes, 2009: 4 .

Adult female (one specimen measured).

Gnathosoma. Movable cheliceral digit 61, with a small tooth; fixed digit 65 long, with a deep subapical notch matching the apex of movable digit, followed by short ridge (ca. 6 µm long) bearing approximately seven denticles. Anterior region of epistome with three smooth, subtriangular projections; anteromedian projection longest.

Dorsal idiosoma. Podonotal and opisthonotal shields fused, reticulate, 445 long and 275 wide, with 36 pairs of setae. Unsclerotised cuticle with seven pairs of setae (r 5, R 1– R 6). Setae j 1 40, j 2 43, j 3 48, j 4 45, j 5 48, j 6 45, J 1 49, J 2 broken, J 3 48, J 4 50, J 5 12, z 1 33, z 2 38, z 3 44, z 4 51, z 5 30, z 6 44, Z 1 55, Z 2 54, Z 3 55, Z 4 (longer than the distance to the base of Z 5) 50, Z 5 42, s 1 36, s 2 36, s 3 44, s 4 49, s 5 50, s 6 52, S 1 48, S 2 56, S 3 54, S 4 54, S 5 43, r 2 34, r 3 36, r 4 45, r 5 35, R 1 33, R 2 32, R 3 34, R 4 35, R 5 35, R 6 37; setae stout and smooth.

Ventral idiosoma. Base of tritosternum 30 long and 12 wide proximally; laciniae 118, separated for about 50% of their total length, pilose. Presternal platelets absent. Sternal shield smooth except for a reticulate anteromedian area; 104 long and 94 wide, with three pairs of setae and two pairs of lyrifissures; setae st 1 24, st 2 24, st 3 26, st 4 22. Distances st 1– st 3 87, st 2– st 2 65. Genital shield smooth, 100 long and 93 wide at the widest level; seta st 5 24; distance st 5– st 5 76. One pair of ovoid metapodal plates. Ventrianal shield reticulate, with three pairs of setae (Jv 2, Jv 3 and Zv 2) in addition to circumanal setae; 127 long and 190 wide. Unsclerotised cuticle around ventrianal shield with seven pairs of setae (Jv 4, Jv 5, Zv 1– Zv 5). Anterior section of endopodal plate fused with sternal shield; section between coxae II–III and III–IV reduced each to an elongate, v-shaped platelets. Expopodal plate consolidated with peritrematic plate; the latter wide, fused anteriorly with dorsal shield at level of j 2 and extending posteriorly to the posterior margin of coxa IV. Peritreme wide, extending anteriorly to base of j 1, without post-stigmatic extension. Setal measurements: Jv 1 30, Jv 2 26, Jv 3 25, Jv 4 27, Jv 5 35, Zv 1 14, Zv 2 26, Zv 3 30, para-anal 24, post-anal broken; setae stout and smooth.

Legs. Setation: genua I–IV: 12, 10, 8, 9; tibiae I–IV: 13, 10, 9, 10. Leg IV 735 long; tarsus IV with macroseta (ad 3) 84 long.

Material examined. One female from soil of a fragment of Andean forest–( pH 3.4; organic matter 95%; humidity 78%; soil temperature 9°C) in December, 2010.

Remarks. The specimen examined is similar to Cheiroseius neophalangioides Mineiro, Lindquist & Moraes, 2009 , described from Brazil, by the long leg IV (about 1.7 times as long as the dorsal shield) and ad 3 of tarsus IV as a macroseta. However, C. neophalangioides is smaller (dorsal shield 375–390 long and 250–255 wide) and it has shorter z 1 (18–20), st 3 (17–18), st 4 (15–16), ad 3 of tarsus IV (55–60). Collection of additional specimens is required for the exact identification of this species.