Holoparasitus rotulifer (Willmann, 1940)

Murvanidze, Maka, Mumladze, Levan & Todria, Nino, 2019, A contribution to the knowledge of oribatid and mesostigmatic mites (Acari) with new records in Georgia, Persian Journal of Acarology 8 (4), pp. 309-325 : 316-317

Holoparasitus rotulifer (Willmann, 1940)

Diagnostic characters (female) – Measurements: 605–610 × 480 μm. Idiosoma well sclerotized, reddish-brown, shield wide, extending to the ventral side and fused with ventri-anal shield; dorsal setae short, fine, 10–15 μm; presternal plate represents stripe, narrower in the middle, postero-lateral endings pointed; paragynia large, with thickened borders, sternal plate with net-like structure, very short: length/width ratio 30–45 × 115–120 μm, three pairs of sternal setae, 55–60 μm; epigynial shield heptagonal, with net-like structure, central apex and concave margins with well-developed tips, one pair of smooth setae 40–45 μm; endogynium circular, with thorn-like projections of equal size (8– 10 μm), distributed around and directed inside. The species differs from other species of this group [ H. calcaratus (Koch, 1839) , H. excipuliger (Berlese, 1906) , H. kerkirensis Witalicski & Skorupski, 2002 , H. paradisiacus Witalincski & Skorupski, 2003 , H. pollicipatus (Berlese, 1903) , H. pseudoperforatus (Berlese, 1906) ] ( Witalincski and Skorupski 2003) by well-developed excipulum and by endogynium with thorn-like projectios of equal size around.

Material – Javakheti highland (N 41.35355189, E 43.69564534, 2229m a.s.l.) soil from artificial pine forests, one female, coll. Mumladze, L., 16.09.2018; Javakheti highland (N 41.32644469 E 43.72254523, 2295m a.s.l.), subalpine hay meadow, one female, coll. Mumladze, L., 16.09.2018.

Distribution in Caucasus – New for Caucasus.

Global Distribution – South-Western Europe ( Karg 1993).

Habitat – According to Karg (1993) the species can be found in bird nests and according to Tikhomirova (1977), it is frequent in caves. We found two individuals of this species in subalpine meadows.

Remarks

While all other characters match with the description, Georgian individuals are smaller in size than reported by Tikhomirova (1977), 720–730 μm and Karg (1993), 705–730 μm.