Paralaelapini Mašán & Halliday, 2014

MAŠÁN, PETER & HALLIDAY, BRUCE, 2014, Review of the mite family Pachylaelapidae (Acari: Mesostigmata), Zootaxa 3776 (1), pp. 1-66 : 38

Tribe: Paralaelapini Mašán & Halliday , new tribe

Type genus Paralaelaps Trägårdh, 1908 .

Description. Dorsal idiosoma with holodorsal shield, the shield entire but not covering whole dorsal surface, bearing 30–38 pairs of setae. Dorsal shield setae simple, smooth and needle-like. Presternal plates absent. In females, sternal shield fused with endopodal and metasternal platelets to form a sternal-metasternal complex, bearing four pairs of setae and three pairs of lyrifissures; epigynal shield fused with ventral shield to form a genitiventral shield, this shield not strongly expanded towards the anal shield, suboval to tongue-shaped, normally rounded on posterior margin, bearing a pair of genital setae and usually one pair of ventral setae (in Paralaelaps pietersburgensis , the genitiventral shield is polytrichous). Peritrematal shields fused with exopodal and parapodal platelets, free from lateral margins of genitiventral shield, and only moderately produced posteriorly. Anal shield free, subtriangular to suboval, bearing three circumanal setae and small anus. Males with holoventral shield; peritrematal shields connected to ventral scutal complex. Legs shorter than idiosoma, tarsi I–IV with minute claws and well formed empodium (claws may absent), tarsi II with no distal setae modified into a spur. Sperm access system unknown.