Nothrholaspis Berlese, 1918

Babaeian, Esmaeil, Joharchi, Omid & Jamshidian, Maryam Keshavarz, 2014, A new species of the genus Nothrholaspis Berlese (Acari: Macrochelidae) from Iran, Zootaxa 3784 (5), pp. 585-590 : 589

Key to the known species of Nothrholaspis Berlese, 1918 (based on adult female)

Information about other species of Nothrholaspis came from published descriptions and illustrations, not from the examination of specimens. Nothrholaspis planus Vitzthum, 1935 is excluded because the setae on the body and legs are almost all smooth, and it is therefore better placed in Macrocheles ( Vitzthum, 1935) .

1. Dorsal shield with 28 pairs of setae, two pairs of setae in J series............................................... 2

- Dorsal shield with 29 pairs of setae, three pairs of setae in J series............................................. 10

2. Dorsal seta z1 short and not reaching the insertions of j2 ...................................................... 3

- Dorsal seta z1 long and reaching the insertions of j2 ......................................................... 6

3. All dorsal shield setae pilose................................... Nothrholaspis saboorii Babaeian & Joharchi sp. nov.

- Dorsal shield with a group of more or less smooth setae in the central region...................................... 4

4. Dorsal seta z1 pilose................................................................................... 5

- Dorsal seta z1 simple..................................................... N. shennongjiaensis ( Ma & Liu, 2003)

5. Dorsal seta j1 with separate bases, pre-anal setae pilose............................. N. sinicus ( Ye, Ma & Chen, 1994)

- Dorsal seta j1 with adjacent bases, pre-anal setae simple............................. N. carinatus (C. L. Koch, 1839)

6. Dorsal shield never with more than three pairs of simple setae (z1, z6 and j2).............. N. banaticus ( Iavorschi, 1977)

- Dorsal shield with more than three pairs of simple setae (j6, z5, z6, J2 and J5 simple; other setae such as j2, j5, z1, s2, r3 and r 4 may be similarly formed).............................................................................. 7

7. Dorsal setae j2, j3, s2, r3 and r4 simple............................................. N. submotus ( Falconer, 1923)

- Dorsal setae j2, j3, s2, r3 and r4 pilose................................................................... 8

8. Dorsal seta z1 simple.................................................................................. 9

- Dorsal seta z1 pilose............................................................. N. coenosus ( Takaku, 1998)

9. Dorsal seta j5 pilose, Jv2 and Jv3 about equal in length to Jv1 ................................ N. tardus (Koch, 1841)

- Dorsal seta j5 simple, Jv2 and Jv3 longer than Jv1.................................... N . dogani Özbek & Bal, 2013

10. Dorsal seta z1 long, dorsal seta z5 pilose.......................................... N. subcoenosus ( Takaku, 1998)

- Dorsal seta z1 short, dorsal seta z5 (sometimes also setae j5 and z1) simple....................................... 11

11. Ventral shields with pilose setae................................................ N. anatolicus Özbek & Bal, 2013

- Ventral shields with simple setae....................................................................... 12

12. Dorsal setae j5 and z1 pilose.................................................... N. turcicus Özbek & Bal, 2013

- Dorsal setae j5 and z1 simple.......................................................................... 13

13. Posterior area of sternal shield, behind second pair of pores, ornamented with smaller meshes of punctate-reticulate pattern, movable digit with three teeth..................................................... N. montanus Willmann, 1951

- Posterior area of sternal shield, behind second pair of pores, ornamented with larger meshes of punctate-reticulate pattern, movable digit with five teeth.......................................... N. caucasicus ( Bregetova & Koroleva, 1960)