Morelacarus Vercammen-Grandjean, 1973

Stekolnikov, Alexandr A. & González-Acuña, Daniel, 2015, A review of Chilean chiggers (Acari: Trombiculidae), with the description of a new genus and ten new species, Zootaxa 3964 (1), pp. 1-43 : 32

Genus Morelacarus Vercammen-Grandjean, 1973

Morelacarus Vercammen-Grandjean, 1973: 323 ; Hoffmann 1990: 176.

Leeuwenhoekia (Morelacarus), Vercammen-Grandjean 1974: 316 .

Type species: Odontacarus morelensis Hoffmann, 1960 , by original designation.

Distribution. Mexico, southwestern USA. Recorded in Chile for the first time.

Remarks. Differences by quantitative traits in the material examined are significant (Ip 581–794, NDV 57– 110), but size of the material was insufficient to divide it by species reliably using morphometric characters. Moreover, most of specimens were engorged or damaged; therefore, some important morphological traits (such as the presence of tracheae, chaetom of palps, etc.) could not be recorded in each specimen. Thus, we should postpone the exact identification of Chilean Morelacarus for the future.