Bdella captiosa Atyeo, 1963

HamadiK, Ali & BarbarK, Ziad, 2024, Two new species of Neomolgus (Acari: Trombidiformes: Bdellidae) from Syria, Acarologia 64 (3), pp. 777-786 : 778

Bdella captiosa Atyeo, 1963

One female was collected from S. officinale , 30 September 2023. This is the first report of this species from Syria. It is known from Australia, Hawaii and Iran ( Hernandes et al., 2016). It can be distinguished from closely related species by the following characteristics: prodorsal striae between pt setae longitudinal; palpal basifemora and tibiotarsi with 7 and 6 setae respectively; chelicera non-striated; genua I–IV without duplex setae; genu I with 2 solenidia; tibia I with 3 solenidia and tibia II with 2 solenidia (Ateyo, 1963; Ueckermann et al., 2007 ; Hernandes et al., 2016).

Measurements of the Syrian specimen. Body length (including gnathosoma) 791, body length (excluding gnathosoma) 575; width 278; diameter of anterior lateral eye 23, and posterior lateral eye 21, distance between two lateral eyes 10. Measurements of dorsal setae: at missing, lps 74, mps 69, pt missing, c1 69, c2 missing, d1 69, e1 64, f1 53, f2 58, h1 62, h2 64. Distance between dorsal setae: at–at 106; lps–lps 138; at–lps 38; pt–pt 112; mps–pt 12; mps–mps 83; at–pt 116; at–mps 115; c1–c1 160; c1–c2 81; d1–d1 120; e1– e1 46; f1–f1 46; f2–f2 130; h1–h1

51; c1–d1 78; d1–e1 74; e1–f1 55; f1–h1 53; h1–h2 50. Subcapitulum 216 long, width at base 87, with six pairs of ventral setae; distal pair 42 and proximal 32; two pairs of short adoral setae ad1 12 and ad2 11. Chelicerae 207 long and 51 wide, with two setae, proximal 46 and distal 64; movable and fixed without teeth. Measurements of palp segments as follows: trochanter

13, basifemur 115, telofemur 25, genu 21, tibiotarsus 58, des 161 and ves 150. Measurements of legs I-IV as follows: 428, 398, 499, 572 respectively.