Tenuipalpus punicae Pritchard & Baker 1958

Çobanoğlu, Sultan, Ueckermann, Edward Albert & Sağlam, Hayriye Didem, 2016, The Tenuipalpidae of Turkey, with a key to species (Acari: Trombidiformes), Zootaxa 4097 (2), pp. 151-186 : 180

Tenuipalpus punicae Pritchard & Baker 1958

( Figs 89–98)

Tenuipalpus punicae Pritchard & Baker 1958: 240 ; Wainstein 1960: 245; Livschitz & Mitrofanov 1967: 32; Khosrowshahi & Arbabi 1997: 38.

Tenuipalpus granati Sayed 1946 ; Düzgüneş 1965: 144. Misidentification.

Diagnosis. Dorsum medially and laterally reticulate; prodorsum with oblique striae and folds laterally; opisthosoma with longitudinal striae laterally. Dorsal opisthosomal setae c1, d1, e1, f2 present. Prodorsal setae v2, sc1 minute and sc2 longer, lanceolate and serrate; opisthosoma with dorsocentral setae c1, d1, e1 short and slightly serrate; lateral setae longer, weakly lanceolate and serrate; setae h1 flagelliform. Venter mostly smooth with weak striae laterally and posteriorly. Spermathecal duct narrows to form proximal constriction, prior to forming a membranous bulge and narrows again into a slender tube terminating into a small bulb distally. Seta tc” absent on tarsi I–II, present on tarsi III–IV.

Female. Dimensions: Length of body including gnathosoma 277–313; width (broadest part) 174–192, width (narrowest part) 106–132; infracapitulum covered by anterior prodorsal projection; Legs: I 98 –119; II 95 –108; III 84 –96; IV 89 –103; setae: v2 6–9; sc1 6–8; sc 2 22–25; c1 5–9; c 3 9–11; d1 7–9; d3 6–9; e1 7 –9; e 3 11 –14; f 2 13– 17; f 2 12–15; h1 135–161; h 2 10–16.

Dorsum ( Fig. 89). Anterior prodorsal projection deeply notched medially forming pointed lobes. Prodorsum with an angulate anterolateral margin, near insertion of setae sc2. Opisthosoma gradually narrowing posteriorly, with two larges lateral pores. Both prodorsum and opisthosoma medially reticulate and laterally with longitudinal to oblique striae. Setae v2 and sc1 minute; setae sc2 longer, lanceolate and serrate; opisthosoma with dorsocentral setae c1, d1, e1 short and slightly serrate; lateral setae longer, lanceolate and serrate; setae h1 flagelliform.

Venter ( Figs 90–91 ). Venter mostly smooth with weak striae laterally and in genital region; setae 3a short, setae 4a, ag elongate. Striation pattern of pregenital and genital shields transverse. Setae ag longer than setae g1–2, extending beyond bases of g1–2, almost to setae ps1–2; setae g2 inserted slightly anterior to g1, ventral setae smooth. Spermatheca narrows to a proximal constriction prior to forming a membranous bulge, and narrows again into a long slender tube terminating in a small bulb.

Gnathosoma ( Fig. 92 ). Infracapitulum covered by anterior prodorsal projection, extending to proximal third of femur I. Palp three-segmented; palp tarsus with two eupathidia, one short and one longer; seta on tibia with serrations; distal segment about one third length of second segment.

Legs ( Figs 93–95 ). Setae and solenidia (included in counts) on segments of legs I–IV: coxae 2-2-1-1, trochanters 1-1-2-1, femora 4-4-2-1, genua 2-2-0-0, tibiae 5-5-3-3, and tarsi 8(ω)-8(ω)-5-5. Leg chaetotaxy as follows: trochanters I, II, IV v’; tr III l’, v ’; femora I–II d, v’, bv”, l’; fe III d, ev ’; fe IV ev ’; genua I–II l’, l”; ge III– IV nude; tibiae I–II d, l’, l”, v’, v”; ti III–IV d, v’, v”; tarsus I–II u’, u”, p’, p” tc’, ft’, ft”, ω; ta III–IV u’, u”, tc’, tc”, ft’. Dorsal setae on femora I–III lanceolate and serrate and on genua I–II absent. Coxal setae 1b, 2b and 4b distinctly longer than other coxal setae.

Deutonymph ( Figs 96–98 ) Legs. Differs from female in that trochanter IV is without setae and tarsi IV without setae tc’, tc”. The deutonymph matches the description of Pritchard & Baker (1958).

Remarks. Düzgüneş (1965) refers to specimens she identified as T. granati ; however, as these specimens bear three pairs of dorsocentral setae (c1, d1, e1) we feel that they are actually T. punicae , because T. granati has just one pair of dorsocentral setae (c1). The rest of the dorsum in her description also strongly resembles that of T. punicae (distinctly reticulate, as opposed to mostly smooth in T. granati ), including the description of the deutonymph as described by Pritchard & Baker (1958).

Material examined. Six females and two deutonymphs from Punica granatum L. ( Lythraceae ), Antalya, Turkey, 26 July 2000, (Collector; S. Çobanoğlu. Deposited at University of Ankara).

Distribution. Azerbaijan, Georgia, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine ( Sayed 1946; Pritchard & Baker 1958; Wainstein 1960; Düzgüneş 1965; Dosse 1971; Sadana & Gupta 1984; Hatzinikolis 1986a; Khanjani et al. 2013b).

Figures

FIGURES 90 – 92. Tenuipalpus punicae Pritchard & Baker. Female. 90. Ventral view. 91. Spermatheca. 92 Palp.

FIGURES 93 – 95. Tenuipalpus punicae Pritchard & Baker. Female. 93. Leg I, left. 94. Leg III, left. 95. Leg IV, left.

FIGURES 96 – 98. Tenuipalpus punicae Pritchard & Baker. Deutonymph. 96. Leg I, right. 97. Leg III, right. 98. Leg IV, right.