Uroobovella madagascarica, Kontschán & Starý & H- & As & Cr & Č, 2012

Kontschán, Jeno & Starý, Josef, 2012, Uropodina species from the Montagne d’Ambre National Park, Madagascar (Acari: Mesostigmata), Revue suisse de Zoologie 119 (3), pp. 89-98 : 90-93

Uroobovella madagascarica sp. n.

Figs 1-12

HOLOTYPE: MHNG, without registration number; female; Madagascar, Nord, Montagne d’Ambre National Park , altitude 1100m, litter sifting; 30.10.2010; leg. P. Baňař.

PARATYPES: MHNG, without registration number, two females and five males ; HNHM, one female and two males ; ISB, one female and two males . All with same data as for holotype.

DIAGNOSIS: All dorsal and marginal setae short and needle-like, dorsal, ventral and marginal shields without sculptural pattern. Genital shield of female scutiform, situated between coxae II and IV, with smooth surface. St1-St3 situated near anterior margin of genital shield of female. Metapodal lines weekly developed, ventral lines anteriorly reaching level of anal platelets.

DESCRIPTION OF FEMALE: Length of idiosoma 510-540 µm, width 410-420 µm (n=5). Body shape oval, color reddish brown.

Dorsal aspect of idiosoma (Fig. 1): Dorsal and marginal shields fused anteriorly. All dorsal setae short (about 12-14 µm), smooth and needle like. Dorsal shield without sculptural pattern, several muscle impression present in central area of dorsal shield. Marginal shield smooth and bearing short (about 12-14 µm), needle-like setae.

Ventral aspect of idiosoma (Fig. 2): Ornamentation of sternal shield absent, all sternal setae short (about 4-5 µm), smooth and needle-like. St1-St3 situated near anterior margin of genital shield, St4 at level of posterior margin of coxae II, St5 at level of posterior margin of coxae III, St6 at level of anterior margin of coxae IV, St7 near basal edges of genital shield (Fig. 3). Ventral shield smooth, several oval pits situated posteriorly near inner end of ventral lines. Ventral setae smooth, needle-like and short (about 8-9 µm), setae ad1 needle-like and about 4-5 µm long. Four pairs of lyriform fissures present on ventral idiosoma, first pair of them situated near anterior margin of sternal shield, second pair near St7, third pair near margins of pedofossae, fourth pair at level of ad1. Stigmata situated between coxae II and III. Peritremes hookshaped, poststigmatid part short. Genital shield of female scutiform, placed between coxae II and IV, without sculptural pattern and anterior process (Fig. 3). Pedofossae deep, their surface smooth, with separate furrows for tarsi IV, metapodal lines weekly developed. Base of tritosternum narrow, its laciniae trifurcate and its margins serrate (Fig. 4).

Gnathosoma (Fig. 5): Corniculi horn-like, internal malae longer than corniculi and smooth. Labrum marginally pilose. Hypostomal setae: h1 long (about 47 µm), smooth and setiform; h2 short (about 13 µm) and marginally serrate; h3 long (about 38 µm) and smooth; h4 long (about 16 µm) and marginally serrate. Epistome basally serrate and apically pilose (Fig. 6). Chelicerae with sclerotised internal nodes, fixed digit longer than movable digit, both digits bearing a single tooth each (Fig. 7).

Legs (Figs 8-11): All legs bearing claws on tip of tarsi, legs I bearing needlelike setae on all segments, legs II-IV bearing short and robust setae on each tarsus and needle-like setae on all segments.

DESCRIPTION OF MALE: Length of idiosoma 480-520 µm, width 390-410 µm (n=9). Shape of idiosoma, ornamentation and chaetotaxy of dorsal parts as in female. Sternal setae short (about 4-5 µm) and needle-like. St1 placed near anterior margin of sternal shield, St2-St4 near lateral margins of genital opening, St5 at level of central area of coxae III, St6 near posterior margin of genital shield, St7 and St8 at level of coxae IV. Sternal shield smooth, only some small oval pits situated posteriorly to St6. Sternal shield bearing two pairs of lyriform fissures, first pair situated near St1, second pairs at level of coxae IV. Genital shield oval and situated between coxae II and III (Fig. 12). Shape of ventral setae and ornamentation as in female.

Larva and nymphs unknown.

ETYMOLOGY: The name of the new species refers to the island where the specimens examined were collected.

REMARKS: The new species belongs to the Uroobovella vinicolora -group ( Hirschmann, 1989) due to the shape of its peritremes, the number of sternal setae and the presence of claws on the tip of legs I. Up to now, ten species are known in this group, but two of them are known only from deutonymphs [U. michiganensis ( Vitzthum, 1926) from the USA and U. wichmanni ( Vitzthum, 1923) from India]. Three species (U. neoamericana Hirschmann in Hirschmann & Zirngiebl-Nicol, 1972; U. feideri Hutu,, 1976 and U. bucovensis Hutu,, 1976) have separated marginal shields in the posterior area of the dorsal idiosoma. In the other species (including the new one) the marginal shields are fused posteriorly.

One of the species in this group with posteriorly fused marginal shields (U. erlangensis Hirschmann & Zirngiebl-Nicol, 1962) has long j1 setae. These are similar in length and shape to other dorsal setae in the new species. The other two species with posteriorly fused marginal shields (U. baloghi Hirschmann & Zirngiebl-Nicol, 1962 and U. vinicolora ( Vitzthum, 1926) have an ornamented ventral shield, whereas in the new species the ventral shield is smooth. The remaining two species [U. bistellaris ( Vitzthum, 1935) and U. rubra Athias-Binche, 1983] have a smooth ventral shield as in the new species, but in the two previously described species the metapodal lines are well-developed and the ventral lines end at the level of the anal platelets, while in the new species the metapodal lines are weekly developed and the ventral lines end anteriorly to the anal platelets.

Two Uroobovella species (U. madagascariensis Wiśniewski & Hirschmann, 1992 and U. pygorana Wiśniewski & Hirschmann, 1992) were previously reported from Madagascar, but their adults are still unknown. The herein described new species is placed into the Uroobovella vinicolora -group. The two, previously known species from Madagascar belong to two different species groups [ Uroobovella madagascariensis Wiśniewski & Hirschmann, 1992 to the Uroobovella ipidis -group and U. pygorana Wiśniewski & Hirschmann, 1992 to the Uroobovella fracta -group ( Hirschmann, 1989)].