Euroschizogynium, Trach, Viacheslav A. & Seeman, Owen D., 2014

Trach, Viacheslav A. & Seeman, Owen D., 2014, A new genus and species of Schizogyniidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) associated with carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) from Ukraine, Zootaxa 3793 (2), pp. 247-256 : 249

Euroschizogynium gen. nov.

Type species. Euroschizogynium calvum sp. nov.

Diagnosis. Dorsal shield hypotrichous. Female sternal shield fused with metasternal shields, with four pairs of setae. Female latigynal, mesogynal and anal shields fused with ventral shield, male with holoventral shield. Ventral shield with large pre-anal membranous region. Ventromarginal shields large, free. Peritrematal shields fused with exopodal and endopodal shields. Female and male gnathosoma with four pairs setae. Setae ad1 and pd1 on tarsi II–IV bifurcated.

Remarks. The reniform membranous pre-anal area is unique in the Schizogyniidae , and we are unaware of it in any other trigynaspid mite. Paradiplogynium (Diplogyniidae) has a superficial similarity, but its membranous area incorporates the anus ( Seeman 2012). Amongst the Schizogyniidae, Euroschizogynium shares some features with Indogynium and Schizogynium . Only Indogynium and Euroschizogynium have bare mid-dorsal shields and the metasternal shields fused with the sternal shield ( Sellnick 1954), and only Schizogynium and Euroschizogynium have males with sexually dimorphic chelicerae and hypostomes ( Funk 1970). Regarding the latter character, Indogynium and Choriarchus have modified chelicerae similar to those observed in the Diplogyniidae (e.g., Trägårdh 1950; Seeman 2012), while Paraschizogynium and Mixogynium have modified hypostomes similar to those observed in some Celaenopsidae , Megacelaenopsidae , and all Euzerconidae (e.g., Kinn 1970; Funk 1974; Hunter & Rosario 1989). This variation in what are presumably means of transferring sperm emphasizes that taxa within the Schizogyniidae may have sister-group relationships with any of the aforementioned families.

Etymology. The new genus name is a combination of Euro, from the Greek word Europa, which emphasizes the type locality and Schizogynium , the type genus of the family Schizogyniidae . The gender is neuter.