Alliphis necrophilus Christie, 1983

Lee, Sue Yeon, Yoo, Jung Sun & Kim, Seung Tae, 2017, A new genus and species record for Mongolia and Republic of Korea, Alliphis necrophilus Christie, 1983 (Parasitiformes: Eviphididae), Journal of Species Research 6, pp. 148-151 : 149

Alliphis necrophilus Christie, 1983

Alliphis necrophilus Christie, 1983: 232 ; Mašán, 1994: 7; Takaku et al., 1994: 306; Ma, 1996: 54; Schwarz et al., 1998: 162; Makarova, 1998: 115; Mašán, 1999: 517.

Alliphis yinchuanensis Gu & Bai, 1997: 249 (synonymy by Mašán and Halliday, 2010: 30).

Alliphis brevisternalis Ma & Wang, 1998: 12 (synonymy by Mašán and Halliday, 2010: 30).

Specimens examined. three females, Punggi , Yeongju, Province of Gyeongsangbuk-do, Republic of Korea, 36° 50 ʹ N, 128°28 ʹ E, alt. 542 m, 27 April 2012, E. Keum coll., from soil of organic apple orchard ; two females, three males, 27 deutonymph, Mongolia, 48°15 ʹ N, 106° 50 ʹ E, alt. 68 m, 21 Jun 2015, J. Kim and C. Jung coll., from Geotrupes amoenus ( Geotrupidae ) .

Diagnosis. Dorsal idiosoma. Dorsal shield suboval, relatively wide, 410-525 μm long and 280-380 μm wide in females, 340-500 μm long and 230-305 μm wide in males, distinctly reticulated only in marginal areas. Dorsal setae relatively short, subequal in length in females.

Ventral idiosoma. Presternal platelets present. Sternal shield approximately as wide as long, 98-124 μm long and 90-120 μm wide, smooth; first pair of sternal pores slit-like, oriented obliquely. Epigynal shield 47-72 μm wide. Post-genital sclerites absent. Anal shield slightly wider than long, 63-89 μm long and 76-101 μm wide, subtriangular, with rounded anterior margin and smooth surface. Epistome with elongated central projections; lateral wing-like elements poorly developed, sloping, densely serrated on anterior margin.

Remarks. Alliphis necrophilus is a necrophilous species specifically associated with burying beetles ( Coleoptera : Silphidae ) and cadavers of small mammals attacked by buring beetles. Among the burying beetles, Nicrophorus burying beetles seem to be prefered: N. humator and N. vespillo in Slovakia, Poland and China ( Mašán, 1994; Ma, 1996; Haitlinger, 2004), N. vespilloides in Scotland ( Christie, 1983), N. maculifrons and N. quadripunctatus in Japan ( Takaku et al., 1994), and N. japonicus in China ( Gu and Bai, 1997). Haitlinger (2004) reported an association of A. necrophilus with other beetles: Oiceoptoma thoracica , Silpha obscura ( Silphidae ) and Trichodes apiarius ( Cleridae ). In our study, A. necrophilus were collected from the earth-boring dung beetle Geotrupes amoenus ( Coleoptera : Geotrupidae ) in Mongolia. In Korea Chromogeotrupes auratus in the family Geotrupidae , can be found in mountain and grassland habitats ( Kwang et al., 2011). Thus this species could occur in association with Ch. auratus in Korea as well. Mites collect- ed from the soil of organic apple orchards may also be associated with burying beetles. Kim (2016) reported a higher abundance of ground beetles in organic apple orchards than in conventional orchards. Also higher input of organic materials in organic apple orchards than conventional orchards for nutritional management and weed management could help inhabit those ground beetles as well as the associated mites. To date, there have been two species of Eviphididae reported in Korea; Copriphis hastatellus Berlese, 1910 and Holostaspella scatophila Evans and Hyatt, 1963 . This study adds the species Alliphis necrophilus Christie, 1983 to Korean fauna record. Further study of the phoretic mites associated with beetles could reveal their ecological interactions.