Phorytocarpais mishdaghensis, FarahiK & WitalińskiK, 2023

FarahiK, Sara & WitalińskiK, Wojciech, 2023, Phorytocarpais mishdaghensis - a new mite species (Parasitiformes: Parasitidae) from Iran, Acarologia 63 (4), pp. 1072-1084 : 1082-1084

Phorytocarpais mishdaghensis n. sp. is very similar to P. distinctus ( Berlese, 1903: 239 ;

1906: 132), both in the females (endogynium) and the males (gnathotectum, corniculus shape, chelicera and leg II armature). The discriminating features in the females are as follows:

and sternal (st1) setae, podonotal (idz1) and sternal (iv1) pores, gland opening gdj (2), Co I ventral setae (v1, v2).

gnathotectum central prong is obtuse in both species, but in P. distinctus it is much longer than the lateral prongs, whereas in P. mishdaghensis n. sp. it is evidently shorter. Chelicera fixed digit in P. mishdaghensis n. sp. features 6 teeth, out of which only the proximal-most is larger, whereas in P. distinctus there are five teeth, out of which both the first and the last one is enlarged. Furthermore, both digits P in. mishdaghensis n. sp. are equally long, but in P. distinctus the fixed digit is distinctly longer. In the case of males, the differences are rather subtle. A characteristic, backward directed adaxial tooth on the chelicera movable digit is encountered in both species, but a tooth on the cheliceral fixed digit P. in mishdaghensis

n. sp. is minute, whereas in P. distinctus it is well pronounced. The axillar process on Fe II is subtriangular in P. mishdaghensis n. sp., but oval in P. distinctus . As far as deutonymphs are concerned, the chelicera fixed digit P in. distinctus features four teeth, whereas in the newly described species, approx. seven. Gnathotectum is also different, i.e. central prong in P. distinctus is obtuse and longer than the lateral ones, which are slim. P In. mishdaghensis

n. sp., the prongs protrude from the arcuate solid margin of the gnathosoma, the central prong is obtuse, short and rather poorly discernible, but the lateral ones are triangular, with the thickened external margins.

Phorytocarpais mishdaghensis n. sp. can also be compared with P. beta (Oudemans et Voigts, 1904) ( Voigts and Oudemans, 1904) and P. scapulatus Athias-Henriot, 1980 . In these species, endogynium comprises anterior circular part followed by a posterior complicated structure, as well as a gnathotectum in the female is of a similar type. However, the endogynium posterior structure in the species under comparison is different than that in the P. mishdaghensis n. sp., as well as a characteristic paragynium metagynial sclerites, as observed in P. scapulatus ,

are not to be found in the newly described species. In the males, the main differences are as follows, i.e. armature of leg II, shape of gnathotectum and chelicera structure. In P. beta the main femoral spur and axillary process are minute, much smaller than the tibial spur. In P. scapulatus , the main femoral spur is relatively short and wide, whereas both the genual and the tibial spurs differ in shape and size from the spurs in P. mishdaghensis n. sp. Gnathotectum in P.

beta male is similar to the one in P. mishdaghensis n. sp., but in P. scapulatus , the central prong is obtuse and much longer than the lateral ones. When the deutonymphs P. in mishdaghensis

n. sp. and P. beta are compared, in the former species a stout podonotal setae s5, a characteristic feature for P. beta ( Hyatt, 1980) , is not to be found.