Blattisocius keegani Fox

Rueda-Ramírez, Diana, Varela, Amanda & De Moraes, Gilberto J., 2016, Soil mites of the families Ascidae, Blattisociidae and Melicharidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) from mountainous areas of Colombia, Zootaxa 4127 (3), pp. 493-514 : 503

Blattisocius keegani Fox

Blattiosocius [sic] keegani Fox, 1947: 599 .

Melichares (Blattisocius) keegani .— Evans, 1958: 209.

Melichares keegani .— Hirschmann, 1962: 30; Sinha et al., 1962: 546. Blattisocius keegani .— Haines, 1978: 21; Treat, 1975: 94.

Morphology (female, two specimen measured).

Gnathosoma. Fixed cheliceral digit 19–20 long, with three teeth; movable digit 27–28, with a single tooth; anterior region of epistome smooth, with a small rounded median lobe and with two lateral elongate and sharp extensions.

Dorsal idiosoma. Dorsal shield reticulate, 475–500 long and 190–223 wide, with 33 pairs of setae. Unsclerotised cuticle with 17 pairs of setae (r 2– r 6, R 1– R 6, UR 1– UR 6). Setal measurements j 1 20–21, j 2 30–33, j 3 33–36, j 4 31, j 5 34, j 6 33, J 1 35, J 2 35, J 3 36–38, J 4 34, J 5 34–36, z 1 21–22, z 2 36–38, z 3 34, z 4 and z 5 broken, z 6 36–38, Z 1 37–42, Z 2 39, Z 3 37, Z 4 37–41, Z 5 52–54, s 1 30 –31, s 2 36 –38, s 3 38, s 4 39, s 5 35, s 6 42 –44, S 1 40, S 2 40 –43, S 3 41 –43, S 4 41 –44, S 5 41 –45, r 2 39, r 3 41, r 4 43, r 5 42, r 6 45, R 1 46, R 2 44, R 3 44, R 4 45, R 5 42, R 6 45, UR 1 41, UR 2 36, UR 3 38, UR 4 40, UR 5 42, UR 6 44. Dorsal setae smooth, except J3–J5 and Z 5, serrate.

Ventral idiosoma. Base of tritosternum 12–13 long and 14–15 wide proximally; laciniae 73–75, separated for about 45% of their total length, pilose. Presternal area lightly sclerotised, transversely striate. Sternal shield with sinuous longitudinal striae, 95–110 long and 72–82 wide, with three pairs of setae and two pairs of lyrifissures; setae st 1 37–41, st 2 35–36, st 3 34–35, st 4 35. Distances st 1– st 3 80–92, st 2– st 2 70–81. Genital shield longitudinally striate; 170–175 long and 80–82 wide at the widest level; seta st 5 34; distance st 5– st 5 63–70. Two pairs of elongate metapodal plates. Ventrianal shield subpentagonal, slightly concave near Jv 2, reticulate, 154–177 long and 88–105 wide, with three pairs of setae (Jv 1– Jv 3); anus 25 long. Unsclerotised cuticle around ventrianal shield with seven pairs of setae (Jv 4, Jv 5, Zv 1– Zv 5). Discrete endopodal plates absent. Exopodal plate narrow. Peritrematic plate narrow, extending anteriorly to level of s 1 and tapered posteriorly to fuse with remnant of exopodal shield beside coxa IV. Peritreme short, reaching posterior margin of coxa III. Setal measurements Jv 1 31–35, Jv 2 41, Jv 3 46–54, Jv 4 55–50, Jv 5 70–72, Zv 1 40, Zv 2 44–50, Zv 3 45–44, Zv 4 49–46, Zv 5 54, para-anal 24–25, post-anal 40.

Legs. Setation: genua I–IV: 13, 11, 9, 9; tibiae I–IV: 13, 10, 8, 10.

Material examined. Two females respectively from soil of a fragment of Andean forest ( pH 4.5; organic matter 27%; humidity 48%; soil temperature 9.5°C) and of a grassland ( pH 5.6; organic matter 51%; humidity 58%; soil temperature 16°C) in August and October, 2010.

Remarks. The specimens collected fit well the redescription provided by Britto et al. (2012) based on specimens from Brazil.