Pterochthonius angelus

van der Hammen, L., 1959, Berlese's Primitive Oribatid Mites, Zoologische Verhandelingen 40, pp. 1-93 : 24-25

Pterochthonius angelus (Berlese, 1916)

Cosmochthonius angelus Berlese , 1910b, p. 388.

Cosmochthonius (Pterochthonius) angelus , Berlese, 1913, p. 104, pl. 8 fig. 93; 1916b, p. 336; Lombardini, 1936, p. 39.

Pterochthonius angelus , Grandjean, 1948, p. 338, fig. 4; 1950b, p. 85, figs. 1-7.

Berlese (1910b) described the present species in a foot-note, apparently added in haste to his series of "Brevi diagnosi"; the only characters mentioned in this diagnosis are the remarkable shape of the dorsal hairs, the number of "coupures", and the total length, whilst Vallombrosa (in the mountains of Tuscany) is recorded as type-locality. In 1913 he created the subgenus Pterochthonius , the description of which is accompanied by an elementary drawing of Cosmochthonius (Pterochthonius) angelus . Finally (Berlese, 1916b) he recorded the species from Columbia (North America) 1), Vallombrosa, and S. Vincenzo (near Pisa). After that, Pterochthonius angelus was mentioned by Grandjean only, who published a detailed redescription after specimens from France and Mexico.

In the Berlese Collection the following slides are present: nos. 122/24, 27, 29, 30 from Vallombrosa (designated as type), and no. 122/32 from S. Vincenzo; they are identical with the specimens described by Grandjean.

1) According to Jacot (1937, p. 238) Berlese's "Columbia" material originates from Columbia, Missouri. His notes are interesting enough to be cited here: "Professor Cyrus R. Crosby has told me that in 1904 to 1906 while at the University of Missouri he ran a Berlese trap with leaf mould from along Hinkson Creek (which runs through the University campus). Some of the mites thus secured he sent to Pavesi in exchange for phalangids. Soon after, Pavesi died, and Berlese obtained the material. Interim Crosby gave the rest of the material to Ewing when he was a graduate Student at Cornell University. Thus Ewing's and Berlese's Columbia, Missouri species are topotypic even in a restricted sense".