Steganacarus applicatus

van der Hammen, L., 1959, Berlese's Primitive Oribatid Mites, Zoologische Verhandelingen 40, pp. 1-93 : 43

Steganacarus applicatus (Sellnick, 1920)

Phthiracarus applicatus Sellnick , 1920, p. 36.

Hoplophora stricula , Berlese, 1896, fasc. 78 (3); 1896b, p. 19.

Phthiracarus berlesei Oudemans , 1915, p. 214; Lombardini, 1936, p. 47.

Hoploderma applicata , Sellnick, 1928, p. 40.

Hoploderma applictum , Willmann, 1931, p. 191, fig. 349.

The species described by Berlese (1896) as Hoplophora stricula is certainly not identical with Hoplophora stricula C. L. Koch (1836). For this reason Oudemans (1915) gave the new name berlesei to stricula Berlese (non Koch); he overlooked, however, that Michael (1898) already used the name Phthiracarus berlesei for Tritia decumana sensu Berlese (1883), so that P. berlesei Oudemans is a primary homonym.

In the Collection I did not see the specimens from Vallombrosa on which Berlese's 1896 description was based, but slide no. 31/23 from Tiarno bears the label " Phtiracarus Berlesei Oudemans "; it contains Steganacarus applicatus . Two cotypes of S. applicatus Sellnick from Lötzen are also present in the Collection; on the label Berlese added the name " Berlesei Michael " (certainly a lapsus for " Berlesei Oudemans "!) as a synonym.

For these reasons I place Berlese's 1896 record of Hoplophora stricula in the synonymy of S. applicatus ; the figure is, however, certainly inaccurate because the two posterior pairs of dorsal hairs are not drawn as strikingly erect.