Myrmozercon Berlese

Ghafarian, Azadeh, Joharchi, Omid, Jalalizand, Alireza & Jalaeian, Mahdi, 2013, A new species of Myrmozercon Berlese (Acari, Mesostigmata, Laelapidae) associated with ant from Iran, ZooKeys 272, pp. 21-28 : 22

Genus Myrmozercon Berlese

Myrmozercon Berlese, 1902: 699. Type species Myrmozercon brevipes Berlese, 1902, by monotypy.

Myrmonyssus Berlese, 1903: 16. Type species Myrmonyssus diplogenius Berlese, 1903, designated by Berlese, 1904 (synonymy by Rosario and Hunter 1988).

Myrmonyssus ( Laelaspulus ) Berlese, 1904: 437. Type species Myrmozercon acuminatus Berlese, 1903, by original designation (synonymy by Shaw and Seeman 2009).

Parabisternalis Ueckermann & Loots, 1995: 35. Type species Parabisternalis yemeni Ueckermann & Loots, 1995, by original designation (synonymy by Shaw and Seeman 2009).

Notes on the genus.

The diagnosis of Myrmozercon used here is based on that of Shaw and Seeman (2009). Most species of Myrmozercon , including the type species Myrmozercon brevipes , show moderate to strong hypertrichy on the dorsal shield. However, Myrmozercon burwelli Shaw & Seeman, 2009 (24-25 pairs), and the new species, have a reduced dorsal chaetotaxy. All species appear to have asymmetrical and unpaired setae on the dorsal shield, which makes it difficult to recognise their homology except the new species. In most species the dorsal shield is reduced or truncated posteriorly to expose a strip of unsclerotised opisthonotal skin, but this is not true for every species. Species of Myrmozercon also vary in the presence or absence of metasternal setae st4, the sternal shield of new species is extended to which the sternal shield is fused with the endopodal plates, with three pairs of setae and three pairs of lyrifissures and metasternal setae (st4) absent. The leg chaetotaxy of Myrmozercon species is variable, and does not provide diagnostic characters that define the genus ( Shaw and Seeman 2009) and this is very characteristic and fixed in the new species. The new species has one ventral seta on the palp trochanter the same as in most species of Myrmozercon . Shaw and Seeman (2009) described a swelling on the dorso-distal edge of the palp trochanter in several species, but this structure is not present in new species. This instability in morphology, and the edentate chelicerae and short peritremes of Myrmozercon , suggest that Myrmozercon is parasitic on its ant hosts, and not simply a commensal in its host’s nests, but this has not been established experimentally. The specimens of new specieswere found clinging to the abdomen and head of the ants.