Raphignathidae Kramer, 1877

Khan, Eid Muhammad, Kamran, Muhammad, Mirza, Jawwad Hassan & Alatawi, Fahad Jaber, 2023, New subgenera and a new species of the genus Raphignathus Duges (Prostigmata, Raphignathidae), with taxonomic notes on the genus Neoraphignathus Smiley & Moser, ZooKeys 1176, pp. 165-180 : 165

Family Raphignathidae Kramer, 1877

Raphignathidae Kramer, 1877: 215

Type genus.

Raphignathus Dugès, 1834: 53

Diagnosis

(based on Krantz and Walter (2009) and Fan and Zhang (2005)). Peritremes linear, not imbedded in dorsal surface of stylophore; paired peritremes running laterally from base of stylophore to make short loops in collar membrane between gnathosoma and podosoma; coxae II and III contiguous; stigmata opening at base of chelicerae.

Taxonomic divisions of the genus Raphignathus

The presence or absence of prodorsal shields are diagnostic for the differentiation of the two existing raphignathid genera. Atyeo (1963) discussed in detail the chaetotaxy of the superfamily Raphignathoidea while describing seven Raphignathus species. This author also provided comprehensive diagnosis of Raphignathus and stated that the number of setae on the shields and the interscutal membrane is a consistent and important diagnostic character. The number of setae on the interscutal membrane is considered to be a strong character and has been used in identification keys to distinguish species ( Nasrollahi et al. 2018; Pishehvar and Khanjani 2021). Through our extensive study of the literature of all 76 Raphignathus species, we find that the number of setae on the interscutal membrane can be used to erect subgenera.

In the current study, we categorize species of the genus Raphignathus into four new subgenera based on the number of setae on the interscutal membrane. These four subgenera are Raphignathus (Raphignathus) , subgen. nov. without setae (11 spp.), Raphignathus (Monoraphignathus) , subgen. nov. with one seta (14 spp.), Raphignathus (Diraphignathus) , subgen. nov. with two setae (33 spp.), and Raphignathus (Triraphignathus) , subgen. nov. with three setae (10 spp.).