Phthiracarus ranomafanensis, Niedbała & Starý, 2016

Niedbała, W. & Starý, J., 2016, Six new species of ptyctimous mites (Acari: Oribatida) from Madagascar, Acarologia 56 (4), pp. 485-496 : 491

Phthiracarus ranomafanensis n. sp.

( Figures 4 )

Description

Measurements of holotype: Prodorsum: length 364, width 273, height 136; prodorsal setae: sensillus (ss) 45, interlamellar (in) 94, lamellar (le) 53, rostral (ro) 76, exobothridial (ex) 43; notogaster: length 515, width 454, height 485; notogastral setae: c 1 61, c 1 / c 1 - d 1 =0.4, h 1 and ps 1 30; genitoaggenital plate 151 × 126, anoadanal plate 227 × 111.

Medium-sized species; colour light brown.

Prodorsum — with distinct sigillar fields. Lateral carinae absent. Sensilli (ss) short, club-shaped with rounded head. Other prodorsal setae fine, attenuate, in> ro> le> ex, rostral setae (ro) procumbent.

Notogaster — with 15 pairs of fine, attenuate and very short notogastral setae, setae c 1 shorter than half of distance between setae c 1 - d 1. Setae c 1 and c 2 remote from anterior margin of notogaster, setae c 3 situated near this margin. Vestigial setae f 1 located anterior of h 1 setae (left side of holotype) or at the level of h 1 setae (right side of holotype). Four pairs of lyrifissures ia, im, ip and im present.

Ventral region — Setae h of subcapitular mentum slightly longer than distance between them. Formula of genital setae 4: 5. Anoadanal plates with 5 pairs of very short setae, adanal setae ad 1 the longest. Adanal setae situated near paraxial border of plates, adanal setae ad 1 at the level of anal setae an 1 and adanal setae ad 2 at the level of anal setae a n 2.

Legs — Chaetome of legs of "complete type "; setae d of femora I long, robust and slightly remote from distal end of article.

Material examined — Holotype is deposited at DATE from locus typicus: Madagascar, Ranomafana National Park , 15. IV. 2011, secondary forest, latitude 21°13’03.6" S, longitude 47°22’02.9" E, altitude 1198 m, Amboditanimena village environs, sifted sample of forest litter, Winkler apparatus extraction, leg. P. Ba ˇnaˇr and R. Raveloson.

Etymology — This new species is named after Ranomafana National Park.

Comparison — The new species has the arrangement of genital setae similar to that of some South African species of the genus Phthiracarus such as P. densus Niedbała, 2006 , P. endroedii (Mahunka, 1984) ( Niedbała 2006) . It is easily distinguishable from its congeners by the unusual arrangement of adanal setae situated near paraxial borders, adanal setae ad 1 and ad 2 at the level of anal setae an 1 and an 2, very short and fine notogastral setae, and by the presence of four pairs of notogastral lyrifissures.

Figures

FIGURE 4: Phthiracarus ranomafanensis n. sp. (holotype): A – prodorsum, dorsal view; B – prodorsum, lateral view; C – opisthosoma, lateral view; D – left side of posterior part of notogaster; E – left genitoaggenital plate; F – right anoadanal plate; G – trochanter and femur of leg I.