Laelaspis equitans (Michael)

Joharchi, Omid, Halliday, Bruce & Saboori, Alireza, 2012, Three new species of Laelaspis Berlese from Iran (Acari: Laelapidae), with a review of the species occurring in the Western Palaearctic Region, Journal of Natural History 46 (31 - 32), pp. 1999-2018 : 2002

Laelaspis equitans (Michael)

Laelaps equitans Michael, 1891: 649 .

Laelaps (Laelaspis) equitans .— Berlese, 1904: 423.

Laelaspis equitans .— Oudemans, 1937: 2942; Hunter, 1961: 675; Bregetova, 1977: 545. Hypoaspis equitans .— Evans and Till, 1966: 210.

Hypoaspis (Laelaspis) equitans .— Karg, 1993: 162.

Laelaspis aequitans (sic).— Farrier and Hennessey, 1993: 81.

Specimens examined

Three females, Karaj, Dizin, 36 ◦ 03 ′ N, 51 ◦ 24 ′ E, altitude 2665 m, 7 June 2009, O. Joharchi coll., in nest of Messor sp. ; 14 females, Karaj, Damarvand, 35 ◦ 52 ′ N, 52 ◦ 07 ′ E, altitude 2422 m, 12 July 2009, O. Joharchi coll., in nest of Camponotus sp. (in JAZM and ANIC).

Notes

Laelaspis equitans was described from Corsica ( Michael 1891), and has been recorded from Denmark ( Haarløv 1957), Italy, Russia and Luxembourg ( Berlese 1904; Bregetova 1977), England ( Evans and Till 1966), USA (Oudemans 1937) and China ( Bai and Gu 1993). It has been found with several genera of ants, and is easily recognized by the large number of long, thick and wavy opisthonotal setae. It is now recorded in Iran for the first time. This species has been found associated with at least six genera of ants, but has not been reported as free-living in soil and litter, or from the nests of mammals ( Table 1).

Berlese (1904) described a new variety of this species as Laelaspis equitans var. longitarsa , but his description is very brief and not accompanied by any illustrations. This form has never been redescribed apart from a brief mention in Hunter (1961), and its status is unknown. According to Castagnoli and Pegazzano (1985), the specimens of L. equitans var. longitarsa are lost, so we can add nothing to the available information.