Chaetodellus comatus, Mašán & Halliday, 2013

Mašán, Peter & Halliday, Bruce, 2013, A new genus and species of soil mite (Acari: Pachylaelapidae: Pachylaelapinae) from the Canary Islands, Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 48 (7 - 8), pp. 403-412 : 409-410

Chaetodellus comatus sp. nov.

( Figure 1 A–F)

Material examined

Holotype female, Canary Islands , northeast Gran Canaria , Las Palmas , soil in garden, 15 m above sea level, March 2008, coll. K. Mozoláková and J. Gronych. The type specimen is deposited at the Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava.

Description (female)

Dorsal idiosoma ( Figure 1A ). Dorsal shield 525 µm long and 333 µm wide (length / width 1.58), smooth, without sculptural ornamentation, slightly expanded laterally to cover very narrow strips of ventrolateral surface. Shield with 29 pairs of setae; j1, z1, J5 minute, not exceeding 5 µm in length; j1 and z1 very fine, J5 thicker and subconical; nine pairs of setae in centre of shield short (j4, j5, j6, z5, z6, J1, J2, J3, J4), 17–25 µm long; r3, r4, r5 also short, 17–25 µm long; j2, s1, r2 of moderate length, remaining 11 pairs much longer, subequal, 95–110 µm in length (j3, z2, z3, s2, s3, s4, s5, Z2, S1, S2, S4).

Ventral idiosoma ( Figure 1B ). Sternal shield 103 µm long, markedly shorter than genitoventral shield (length of sternal shield / length of genitoventral shield 0.45); with short, wide and truncate projection between setae st1 ( Figure 1C ); surface almost smooth, with distinct arch-shaped sculptural line on marginal surface; st1 47–51 µm long. Genitoventral shield with very weak reticulation on surface, length and width subequal (227 µm long and 226 µm wide), hyaline anterior margin between setae st2 and st3, setae Jv1 57–63 µm long. Peritremes well-developed, almost straight, anterior ends close to anterolateral margins of coxae I; peritrematal shields each with longitudinal sculptural line parallel to outer margin of the peritreme. Anal shield smooth, closely abutting the genitoventral shield, 127 µm wide and 67 µm long (length / width 0.52). Unsclerotized cuticle with five pairs of setae, R-setae absent, r6 fine and short, Jv4 longest, 80–85 µm in length.

Gnathosoma . Hypostomal groove with six transverse rows of denticles, about 12 denticles per row. Anterior hypostomal setae h1 (33–35 µm long) and interior posterior hypostomal setae h3 (35–38 µm) longer than exterior posterior hypostomal setae h2 (17–19 µm) and palpcoxal setae pc (9–10 µm). Corniculae long; internal malae long and fine, external malae fringed. Chelicerae not observable.

Etymology

The name of this species is derived from the Latin comatus (long-haired, hairy), and alludes to the elongate setae around the edges of the dorsal shield.

Notes

The dorsal shield chaetotaxy of the only available specimen is not completely clear, because the specimen has been distorted and broken by the pressure of the cover slip. We identified the setae by comparison with C. meganalis , as in Figure 1A, G .

Figures

Figure 1. Chaetodellus spp., females. (A–F). Chaetodellus comatus sp. nov. (A) Dorsal shield; (B) ventral idiosoma; (C) sternal shield, anterior portion; (D) epistome; (E) tarsus II, distal section; (F) tubes of sperm access system opened onto coxae III. (G) Chaetodellus meganalis, dorsal shield. Scale bars: 100 µm (A, B, F, G), 50 µm (C, D) and 25 µm (E).