Uroobovella varians Hirschmann & Zirngiebl-Nicol, 1962

Farahi, Sara, Shishehbor, Parviz & Nemati, Alireza, 2018, Some mesostigmatic mites (Acari: Parasitiformes) of Khuzestan province, southwestern Iran, Persian Journal of Acarology 7 (4), pp. 323-344 : 337

Uroobovella varians Hirschmann & Zirngiebl-Nicol, 1962

Uroobovella varians – Hirschmann and Zirngiebl-Nicol (1962): 59.

Uroobovella varians – Karg (1989): 136.

Distribution and habitats in Iran – This is the first record for Iran mite fauna.

Material examined – One deutonymph, Shushtar, Band-e Qir, 31°39'10" N, 48°53'09" E, 26m, 13 october 2016 (cow manure).

Identification – Deutonymph: Length of idiosoma 467 μm, width 352 μm, colour yellow-brown. Shape of idiosoma oval, posterior margin rounded. Dorsal and marginal shields fused anteriorly ( Fig. 3a ). Dorsal and marginal shields without sculptural pattern and bearing short and smooth acicular setae. Surface of sternal shield smooth, with 9 pairs of setae and small pimple pits. Sternal setae St1, St2 and St3 situated near coxae II. St4 – St7 placed near coxae III. St8 and St9 situated near coxae IV ( Fig. 3b ). Posterior part of sternal shield wider than 1/2 width of the ventrianal shield. Surface of ventrianal shield smooth. Marginal setae of the ventrianal shield not elongated. Anal shield as in Fig. 3c . Peritremes with several S-shaped coils ( Fig. 3d ). Corniculi horn-like, internal malae smooth and longer than corniculi. Chelicerae with long apical process on fixed digit.

Note – This species has a Palearctic distribution and was recorded from Europe and Korean Peninsula ( Kontschán et al. 2012). It has not yet been recorded from other parts of Asia. It may be due to the poor investigation of Uropodina fauna in Asia. The report of this species by Mesbah et al. (2008) from Egypt could be misidentification ( Dilipkumar et al. 2015). However, it was again recorded from Egypt by Elmoghazy and Shawer (2013). This mite has previously been recorded from horse dung ( Schelvis 1991; Skorupski and Gwiazdowicz 1998), strongly decayed, moist litter ( Kontschán et al. 2012) and soil ( Elmoghazy and Shawer 2013). Characters of Our specimen agree with data presented in Karg (1989).

Figures

Figure 3. Deutonymph of Uroobovella varians Hirschmann & Zirngiebl-Nicol, 1962 – a. Ventral view; b. Sternal shield; c. Anal shield, d. Peritreme.