Tarsonemus heterosetiger, Mahunka, 1974

Magowski, Wojciech Ł., 2020, Review of Tarsonemus heterosetiger Mahunka, 1974 (Acari: Heterostigmatina Tarsonemidae) - an unusual species from Central Africa warranting supraspecific recognition, Zootaxa 4790 (1), pp. 108-120 : 119

Tarsonemus heterosetiger species group

Diagnosis. Adult females: gnathosoma with pharynx broad but less than half of capsule width, with indistinct, elongate glandular bodies and pronounced cheliceral stylets nearly as long as half of gnathosomal capsule length; all dorsal opisthosomal setae, especially c 2, e and h slender, generally nude, elongate; c 2 approaching sc 2 in length (*), c 2 and e similar in length to half the distance between their bases (*). Ventral setae all slender, medium sized; anterior margin of coxisternal plates I formed into a short projection that partly covers bases of leg I trochanters and occasionally base of gnathosoma from below, however not as extensive as in subgenus Chaetotarsonemus (*); apodemes weakly pronounced, but otherwise typically developed except apodemes 3 extending somewhat laterally from anterior extremities of trochanters III, and apodemes 4 extend slightly beyond bases of setae 3b. Leg chaetotaxy: Legs short, esp. tibiotarsus I and tarsus II both distinctly less than twice as long as wide (*), leg I claw hooklike, stronger at base than claws of legs II and III, mounted on thick, stalked pretarsus (*), tarsal setae I s, II pl” and II & III u’ robust, bent, with blunt and somewhat curved tips (*). Genual III seta l” longer than its segment, as well as tarsus III, and also longer than tibial III v’, but only little shorter than the longest tarsal III tc” (*).

Males and larvae—unknown.