Charletonia krendowskyi ( Feider, 1954 )

Elverici, Mert, Buğa, Evren & Sevsay, Sevgi, 2022, A contribution to the knowledge of the genus Charletonia Oudemans (Acari: Prostigmata: Erythraeidae) from Turkey, Persian Journal of Acarology 11, pp. 471-482 : 473-476

Charletonia krendowskyi ( Feider, 1954)

Additions and corrections to the description (n = 40 larvae) – Measurements of 23 specimens are given in Table 1.

Dorsal surface with about 125–135 barbed setae (fD) and ventral surface with 45–50; one eye on each side of idiosoma ( Fig. 3). Scutum pentagonal, obvious punctate entirely, chitinized in the middle, and shorter than wide. The upper border of the scutum is convex at the level of the ASE setae, expanded at the PL level. Scutum with two pairs of sensilla (ASE <PSE) both with short barbs in distal part. ASens well anterior to the level of ML scutalae ( Fig. 4). Scutalae (AL, ML and PL) slightly barbed, AL as long as ML and both slightly longer than PL. Ventral side of idiosoma with sternalae 1 a, 2 a, 3 a, all with short barbs, subequal in length. Coxae I with one barbed seta (1 b), coxae II and coxae III each with two barbed setae with four setae between them.

Leg segmentation formula: Leg I: Ta-1ω, 1ε, 3ζ, 1Cp, 22n; Ti-2φ, 1κ, 1Cp, 16-18n; Ge-1σ, 1κ,

12n; TFe- 5n, BFe-4n; Tr- 1n. Leg II: Ta-1ω, 1ζ, 18-20n; Ti-2φ, 16-17n; Ge-1κ, 12n; TFe-5n, BFe- 4n; Tr- 1n. Leg III: Ta-2-4ζ, 22-24n; Ti-1φ, 18n; Ge-12n; TFe-5n, BFe-2n; Tr- 1n. Solenidion placed in distal half of Ge I and proximal to the most distal normal seta.

Gnathosoma with two pairs of barbed hypostomalae (as and bs). Palpfemur and palpgenu each with one barbed seta. Palptibia with three barbed (BBB) and pointed setae. Palptarsus with distal one eupathidium, one proximal solenidion, one smooth and four barbed setae. fPp = 0-B-B-BBB 2 - BBBBNωζ, solenidion thick and pronounced ( Fig. 5).

Some abnormalities are observed on examined specimens. In two specimens, there are two ML setae on one side (4+3 scutalae) ( Fig. 6). In one of the other specimen, there are two ML setae on both sides (4+4 scutalae) ( Fig. 7). Also, placement of solenidion on the Genu I (distal to or in line with the location of the most distal normal seta) is very important character to identify species. Although these setae were distal in our samples, they are located in either near the middle of Genu I

(27 specimens, Fig. 8) or lateral side of Genu I (13 specimens, Fig. 9). It is observed that the location of microsetae depends on the position of solenidion. Additionally, one of the specimens had two microsetae on Genu I (instead of one) ( Fig. 10).

Biology

Larvae on the hosts were most abundant at the end of June and the beginning of July. Most parasitic larvae were observed after rainy days. The red-colored larvae of Charletonia krendowskyi were attached primarily on the posterior wings of the bush cricket. The number of ectoparasitic larvae of C. krendowskyi on Platycleis intermedia ranged from 2 to 8, which is interpreted as moderately high. The larvae were usually located under the posterior wing.

Distribution

Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Iran, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine ( Mąkol and Wohltmann, 2012), and Turkey (in this study).