Prozercon aristatus Athias-Henriot, 1961

Ujvári, Z., 2012, Description Of A New Species, Prozercon Mahunkaiana N. Sp., And Redescription Of Prozercon Aristatus Athias-Henriot, 1961 From Portugal, Acarologia 52 (1), pp. 97-108 : 103-107

Prozercon aristatus Athias-Henriot, 1961

Prozercon aristatus Athias-Henriot, 1961: 410 , Figures 145-148; Petrova, 1977: 587, Figure 464 (3); KontschAEn and UjvAEri, 2008: 350. Misidentification of Prozercon neorafalskii Balan and Sergienko, 1990 .

Diagnosis — Posterolateral tips of peritrematal shields reaching level of R 4-5 in female, fused to ventrianal shield in male. Central and submarginal setae of podonotum, including j2-3 smooth. Marginal setae of opisthonotum smooth, thorn-like. Setae J1-2, Z1-2 and S2 short, pointed and smooth or very finely pilose. Setae J4 situated lateral to line connecting J3 and J5. Glands gdZ3 (Po3) situated lateral to line connecting Z3 and Z4. Posterodorsal cavities uniform, weakly developed.

Redescription of female (n = 14) — Length of idiosoma: 360 – 376 µm (370 µm); width: 290 – 306 µm (297 µm).

Dorsal side ( Figures 5A , 6 , 8C ) — Podonotum with 20 pairs of setae, j1-6, z2-6, s1-6, r2 and r4-5 inserted dorsally, r1 and r3 inserted ventrally, on peritrematal shields. Podonotal setae j1 plumose, j2-6, z2, z4-6, s1 and s4-5 short, smooth and needle-like. Marginal setae z3, s2-3, r2, r4-5 and s6 plumose. Glands gds1 (po1) situated on line connecting s1 and j3, closer to s1; gdj4 (po2) situated on line connecting j4 and z4, closer to z4; gds4 (po3) on line connecting s4 and s5. Podonotal shield covered by tile-like and reticulate pattern, with irregular pits in the crossing points on its central and posterior surface.

Opisthonotum with 22 pairs of setae, J1-5, Z1- 5, S1-5 and R1-7. Setae J1-2, Z1-2 and S2 similar in shape and length, short, pointed and smooth or barely pilose. Setae J3-4 somewhat longer than former setae, distinctly pilose, J5 shorter, finely pilose ( Figure 8A ). Setae J4 situated lateral to line connecting J3 and J5. Setae Z3 similar in shape and length to J3-4, Z4 remarkably longer than former setae, plumose. Setae Z5 and S3-5 similar in appearance, expanding beyond margins of idiosoma, plumose. Marginal setae S1 and all the R-setae short, smooth and thorn-like. Setae S2 situated on line connecting S1 and Z1, near Z1. Length of opisthonotal setae and distances between their insertions as in Table 3. Glands gdZ1 (Po1) situated anterior to insertions of Z1; gdS2 (Po2) situated on line connecting S2 and Z2; gdZ3 (Po3) lateral to line connecting Z3 and Z4; gdS5 (Po4) near S5, in posteromedial position. Central surface of opisthonotal shield covered by alveolar pits, lateral surface with small, alveolar pits. Posterodorsal cavities uniform, weakly developed.

Ventral side ( Figure 5B ) — Slit between peritrematal shields and dorsal shields inconspicuous. Peritrematal shields with posterolateral tips reaching level of R4-5, covered by fine reticulation. Peritremes straight, without remarkable dilatation near the stigmata. Chaetotaxy and poroidotaxy of ventral shields typical for genus Prozercon . Sternal shield 68 µm long and 40 µm wide at the level of setae st2, with straight posterior margin and reticulate ornamentation. Ventrianal shield with short, smooth and needle-like preanal and adanal setae, setae Zv1 absent. Postanal seta 2-3 times longer than preanal and adanal setae, setae Jv5 plumose. Anal valves with vestigial euanal setae. Glands gv3 situated anterolateral to adanal setae. Anterior surface of ventrianal shield covered by squamous pattern to level of Jv3-Zv4-Jv4.

Gnathosoma — Situation of hypostomal and subcapitular setae typical for the family. Setae h1 elongate, smooth. Setae h2-3 shorter than h1, smooth, h4 longer than previous setae, serrate. Corniculi horn-like, internal malae with a pair of bifurcate anterocentral branches and with serrate margins. Chelicerae relatively slender, fixed digit with 6 teeth, movable digit with 4 – 5 teeth. Epistome typical for the genus Prozercon , of Prozercon - type (see UjvAEri, 2011b).

Description of male (n = 5) ( Figures 7A, B ) — Length of idiosoma: 306 – 311 µm (309 µm); width: 241 – 252 µm (247 µm). Chaetotaxy, poroidotaxy and sculptural pattern of dorsal, ventrianal and peritrematal shields similar to those of female, except setae Z4 which similar in appearance to Z 3 in male. Length of opisthonotal setae and distances between their insertions as in the Table 3. Sternigenital shield entire, bearing four pairs of setae, setae st5 absent. Posterolateral tips of peritrematal shields fused to ventrianal shield at level of setae R4. Each characters of gnathosoma similar to that of female, but terminal part of fixed digit of chelicerae bifurcate.

Material examined — 14 females and 4 males from Portugal, Vilago GerOEs, National Park Peneda GerOEs, from leaf litter, leg. T. Sz ˝uts, 12 Jun. 2005 (E-1647), 1 male from Portugal, Vilago GerOEs, National Park Peneda GerOEs, from rotten tree log, leg. T. Sz ˝uts, 12 Jun. 2005 (E-1647) .

Distribution — Southern Galicia, GerOEs Mts. ( Spain and Portugal).

Remarks — The species is illustrated erroneously in Petrova (1977) as setae J5 are lacking from the figure.

Figures

FIGURE 5: Prozercon aristatus female: A – dorsal view; B – ventral view. (Scale = 100 µm)

FIGURE 6: Prozercon aristatus female, dorsal view (SEM photo). (Scale = 100 µm)

FIGURE 8: SEM photos of Prozercon species of Portugal. A – P. aristatus, central surface of opisthonotum; B – P. mahunkaiana n. sp., central surface of opisthonotum; C – P. aristatus, caudodorsal view; D – P. mahunkaiana n. sp., caudodorsal view. (Scale = 100 µm)

FIGURE 7: Prozercon aristatus male: A – dorsal view; B – ventral view. (Scale = 100 µm)