Laelaspisella Marais & Loots

Joharchi, Omid & Halliday, Bruce, 2013, A new species and new records of Gymnolaelaps Berlese from Iran (Acari: Laelapidae), with a review of the species occurring in the Western Palaearctic Region, Zootaxa 3646 (1), pp. 39-50 : 46

Laelaspisella Marais & Loots

Laelaspisella Marais & Loots, 1969: 1 .

Type species Laelaspisella epigynalis Marais & Loots, 1969 , by original designation.

Notes on the genus. Laelaspisella was described for two species from soil in southern Africa (Marais & Loots, 1969). The presence of pre-sternal plates and an expanded epigynal shield suggests a superficial similarity to Gymnolaelaps . However, Laelaspisella has a strongly hypertrichous dorsal shield, two ventral setae on genu IV, and lacks metasternal setae st4. Gymnolaelaps has a normal complement of 40 pairs of setae on the dorsal shield, one ventral seta on genu IV, and the metasternal setae are always present. These characters allow us to transfer Gymnolaelaps canestrinii Berlese and G. kabitae Bhattacharyya into Laelaspisella , which further clarifies the definition of Gymnolaelaps . It also allows a clearer understanding of Laelaspisella , which occurs in southern Africa, Italy, Iran, Israel, and West Bengal.

Karg (1989b) also included Hypoaspis (Laelaspisella) foramenis Karg, 1989 b and Hypoaspis (Laelaspisella) cavitatis Karg, 1982 in Laelaspisella . However, these two species appear to belong to some other unknown Neotropical genus, in which the dorsal shield is hypertrichous, the epigynal shield is extended posteriorly but is not widened and bears only one pair of setae, the sternal shield has a deeply excavated posterior margin, and the metasternal setae are present.