Poliremotus chilensis Brennan and Goff, 1978

Stekolnikov, Alexandr A. & González-Acuña, Daniel, 2015, A review of Chilean chiggers (Acari: Trombiculidae), with the description of a new genus and ten new species, Zootaxa 3964 (1), pp. 1-43 : 27

Poliremotus chilensis Brennan and Goff, 1978

Poliremotus chilensis Brennan and Goff, 1978: 542 , figs. 12–21 (holotype in USNM).

Diagnosis. SIF = 6B-B-3-2110.0000; fPp = B/B/BBB; fCx = 1.1.1; fSt = 2.2; fSc: PL> AM> AL; Ip = 673; fD = 2H-6-6-6-6-4-2; DS = 32; VS = 54; NDV = 86. Cheliceral blade with 1 ventral and 4 dorsal teeth; scutum trapezoidal, with concave posterior margin; sensilla globose; SB situated far anterior to PLs, far from each other and close to scutal sides.

Host. Octodon degus (Molina) ( Rodentia : Octodontidae ).

Distribution. Chile, unknown locality (probably in Valparaíso Region).

Remarks. Authors of the original description received the single specimen of this chigger from Fritz S. Lukoschus (Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen, the Netherlands). The only collectional data they provided were as follows: “ Holotype from CHILE, Zelebor, ex Octodon degus ” (Brennan & Goff 1978 ). Obviously, “Zelebor” is not a geographic term, but the collector’s name. Austrian naturalist Johann Zelebor participated in the Novara Expedition organized by Austrian Empire in 1857–1859 ( Wurzbach 1890). This round-the-world mission stayed in the Chilean port Valparaíso from 17 April to 11 May 1859 ( Scherzer 1863), where Zelebor could have obtained a specimen of degu. The range of this rodent species is characterized as “ Chile, west slope of the Andes between Vallenar and Curico” ( Wilson & Reeder 2005); this territory includes parts of Atacama, Coquimbo, Valparaíso, O’Higgins, and Maule Regions. Undoubtedly, the chigger mite was collected from this rodent in a museum by Lukoschus, more than a century later.