Laelaspis loeckii Duarte &Moreira, 2022

Duarte, Adriane Da Fonseca, Rueda-Ramírez, Diana, Cunha, Uemerson Silva Da & Moreira, Grazielle Furtado, 2022, Description of a new species of Laelaspis Berlese (Acari: Mesostigmata: Laelapidae) from Brazil, with a key to the species of the Western Hemisphere, Zootaxa 5133 (4), pp. 567-576 : 568

Laelaspis loeckii Duarte &Moreira sp. nov.

Type specimens: holotype female, five paratype females and one paratype male collected on 26 June 2012 by A. da F. Duarte from soil collected from a grassland, at Posto Santa Adelaide (at Estância São José; 31°51’48”S, 54º10’03’’W; 240 m above sea level), Aceguá , Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. All type specimens deposited at Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz”, Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo state, Brazil ( ESALQ-USP).

Diagnosis: female dorsal shield smooth, with usually 37 pairs of setae (r5 missing in all specimens and S1 missing in four of six specimens), including two pairs of extra Px setae and one unpaired extra Jx seta between J4 and J5; setae longer than distance to the respective closest setae, except j1, z1, J5 and Z4 which are shorter; most of setae with basal asymmetric lobe. Unsclerotised lateroventral idiosomal cuticle with eight pairs of lightly serrate setae (r6, R1 – R5 , UR1, UR2). Epigynal shield slightly overlapping the anal shield, ornamented with “V” and “inverted V” shaped pattern and with three pairs of setae (st5, Jv1, Zv1) which are very close to the margin. One pair of metapodal platelets. Ten pairs of opisthogastric setae (Jv1–Jv5; Zv1–Zv5); Zv1 and Zv2 smooth and Jv4, Jv5, Zv3–Zv5 with barely distinguishable serration. Epistome subtriangular, with margin undulate and smooth. Fixed and movable cheliceral digits each with one tooth in addition to the apical tooth.