Cosmolaelaps claviger (Berlese)

Joharchi, Omid, Ueckermann, Edward A., Döker, Ismail, Khaustov, Vladimir A. & Hänel, Christine, 2021, Some free-living laelapid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata: Laelapidae) from Tristan da Cunha and Nightingale Islands, with description of a new species of Gaeolaelaps Evans & Till (Acari: Laelapidae) and the first afrotropical record of the genus Nidilaelaps Shaw, Zootaxa 5026 (2), pp. 271-285 : 272-273

Cosmolaelaps claviger (Berlese)

( Figures 1 & 2 ).

Laelaps claviger Berlese, 1883: 2 .

Laelaps (Cosmolaelaps) claviger .— Berlese, 1903: 20; Halbert, 1915: 73.

Hypoaspis claviger .— Costa, 1968: 5.

Cosmolaelaps claviger .— Hull, 1918: 68; Moreira et al., 2014: 319.

Cosmolaelaps bregetovae Pirianyk, 1959: 101 (synonymy by Bregetova, 1977: 513).

Hypoaspis (Hypoaspis) auris Karg, 1965: 276 (synonymy by Costa, 1968: 5).

Hypoaspis (Cosmolaelaps) claviger .— Evans & Till, 1966: 182; Karg, 1971: 166; Bregetova, 1977: 513, Karg, 1978a: 8; Karg, 1979: 72; Karg, 1981: 216; Karg, 2000: 247.

Hypoaspis (Cosmolaelaps) macroanalis Bernhard in Hirschmann et al., 1969: 137 (synonymy by Karg, 1981: 216).

Specimens examined. Paratype of Hypoaspis auris Karg, 1965 : ZMB Kat. Nr. 39902, Park v. Wiesenburg (Fläming), Erde m. Moss, nähe Tümpel, 29.09.1965. Nine females and two males, Tristan da Cunha Island, 37°06’ S, 12°28’ W, 10 Feb. 2005, alt. 586 ft., C. Hänel coll., from moss off boulders next to rock pool and lichen off ground rocks in open Phylica arborea bush.

Remarks. The type species of the genus, Cosmolaelaps claviger , was described from Italy ( Berlese, 1883). It has been found from moss and is a very widespread species. It has been recorded many times from the same habitat type, in America, Europe and Asia and is now recorded from Tristan Da Cunha Island for the first time, also from the same kind of microhabitat. Our newly collected specimens agree very well with the description given by Evans & Till (1966) and Costa (1968). The species may be recognised primarily by the 39 pairs of spatulate dorsal setae inserted on small tubercles, 2–5 unpaired setae Jx between J series present ( Fig. 1 ), sternal and genital shields reticulate throughout ( Fig. 2 ), opisthogastric setae thickened and Jv5 spatulate, almost all setae on legs thickened and some of them spatulate. We also have had the opportunity to examine the female specimen (paratype) of Hypoaspis (Hypoaspis) auris Karg, 1965 to confirm Costa’s (1968) synonymy.

Figures

FIGURES 1–4. 1–2. DICmicrographs of Cosmolaelaps claviger (Berlese, 1883), female. 1, dorsal idiosoma; 2, ventral idiosoma. 3–4. DIC micrographs of Gaeolaelaps aculeifer (G. Canestrini, 1884), female. 1, dorsal idiosoma; 2, ventral idiosoma.