Bregetova (Eds.) Kazemi & Rajaei & Yazdanian, 2018

Kazemi, Shahrooz, Rajaei, Asma & Yazdanian, Mohsen, 2018, Two new records of the genus Halolaelaps (Mesostigmata, Halolaelapidae) from Iran, Persian Journal of Acarology 7 (2), pp. 217-220 : 218

Halolaelaps saproincisus Hirschmann & Götz, 1968 ( Fig. 1 )

Halolaelaps saproincisus . – Hirschmann and Götz 1968: 9; Karg 1971: 294, 1993: 300; Bregetova and Shcherbak 1977: 296; Krantz 2016: 13; Trach 2016: 444.

Halolaelaps (Halogamasellus) saproincisus . – Błaszak and Ehrnsberger 1995: 44; Błaszak et al. 2004: 6.

Material examined and measurements of Iranian specimens

One deutonymph removed from under elytra of an unidentified species of Aphodius Illiger , collected in Sarakhs region, Khorasan Razavi Province, northeastern Iran, 26 April 2010 [idiosoma length 329, width 198]; 14 deutonymphs removed from under elytra of an unidentified species of scarab beetles, collected in Mashhad region, Khorasan Razavi Province, northeastern Iran, 31 March 2010 [idiosoma length 353–371, width 219–234 (n = 4)]; one deutonymph removed from an unidentified species of Staphylinidae beetle, collected in Torbat Heydarieh region, Khorasan Razavi Province, northeastern Iran, 30 April 2010 [idiosoma length 338, width 201]; one deutonymph removed from under elytra of an unidentified Geotrupidae beetle, collected in Mashhad region, Khorasan Razavi Province, northeastern Iran, 25 March 2010 [idiosoma length 362, width 227].

Notes

In a survey on mesostigmatic mites associated with some insects in northeastern Iran, some deutonymph specimens of an unknown species of Halolaelaps were collected. This species was unique within the known species of the genus until that time by presence of only two pairs of modified setae pv on coxae II-III, but we did not described the species as new for science because its adult stages, especially adult females, had not been collected in that research. Trach (2016) redescribed adults of H. saproincisus and also described its deutonymphs for the first time. Comparison of the deutonymph specimens collected in Iran and that of H. saproincisus described by Trach (2016) indicated their conspecificity. However, Iranian deutonymphs of the species have a more concave anterior margin of sternal shield ( Fig. 1 ). On the other hand, Trach (2016) reported phoretic deutonymphs of the species only in association with Aphodius fimetarius (L.) ( Scarabaeidae ), but the deutonymphs in this study were removed from three different species of Scarabaeoidea and also an unidentified species of Staphylinidae beetles. It should be noted that about 20 years ago, Mossadegh (1997) reported an uncertainly identified species of Halolaelaps as H. cf. saproincisus from bee hives ( Apis mellifera L.) in northwestern Iran, but that species never identified certainly and recorded from Iran.

Figures

Figures 1–2. 1. Halolaelaps saproincisus (deutonymph), ventral view of body; 2. Halolaelaps curvisetosus (female) dorsal view of idiosoma.