Raphignathus arcus Akyol, 2021

Akyol, Mustafa, 2023, The first description of male of Raphignathus arcus Akyol (Acari: Raphignathidae) and a variation in the number of genital setae of its a female, Acarological Studies 5 (1), pp. 42-44 : 42-44

Raphignathus arcus Akyol, 2021

Description: Male (n=3).

Length of body (including gnathosoma) 182-208, width 83-94.

Gnathosoma ( Figs 1 A,B,G ): Subcapi tulum with two pairs of adoral setae (or 1-2) and two pairs of subcapitular setae m = n 26. Stylophore conical and striated; palp chaetotaxy (femur–tarsus) as follow: 2–2–3+1 claw–4+1ω+4 eupathidia.

Dorsum of idiosoma ( Fig. 1A ): Dorsal body shields fused, striated near lateral margin of body and faintly striated; one pair of eyes located between setae ve and sce; three pairs of cupuli (ia, im, ip) on idiosoma; dorsal shields sparsely punctuated. Dorsal setae simple. Lengths and distances of dorsal idiosomal setae as follows: vi = ve = sci 21-23, sce 23-26, c 1 16, c 2 21, d 1 13-16, e 1 16 -18, f 1 18-21, h 1 18-21, h 2 18-21, h 3 16-18, vi–vi 13-16, vi–sci 36-44, sci– sci 31-34, sci–ve 27-31, ve–ve 83-91, ve–sce 21, sce–sce 114-130, sce–c 1 75-83, c 1 – c 1 10-13, c 1 – c 2 44-47, c 2 – c 2 88- 99, c 2 – d 1 49-55, d 1 – d 1 62-68, d 1 – e 1 18 - 21, e 1 – e 1 49 -57, e 1 – f 1 18-23, f 1 – f 1 34-39, f 1 - h 1 16-18, h 1 – h 1 23-27, h 1 – h 2 26-27, h 2 – h 2 52-57, h 2 – h 3 23-26, h 3 – h 3 68-70.

Venter of idiosoma ( Fig. 1B ): With two pairs of small and narrow coxisternal shields, one pair between coxa I with setae 1 a 23-27, one pair between coxae III and IV with setae 3 a 23-27; venter striated, with three pairs of setae 4 a 23-26, ag 1 13-18 and ag 2 13-16; anal shields with three pairs of pseudanal setae ps 1 = ps 2 18, ps 3 16. A pair of cupuli (ih) located laterally to genital shields.

Legs ( Figs 1 C-F): Length of legs: leg I 99-104, leg II 88, leg III 99-104 and leg IV 109-120. Chaetotaxy of leg segments (solenidia in parentheses) as follows: coxae 2–2–2–1, trochanters 1–1–2–1, femo ra 6–5–3–3, genua 5(+1Κ)– 5(+1Κ)–4–4, tibiae 5(+1φρ)–5(+1φρ)–5(+1φρ)–4(+1φρ); tarsi 19(+1ω ♂ +1φρ)–15(+1ω ♂)–13(+1ω ♂)–13(+1ω ♂).

Immature stages: Unknown.

Materials examined: One fem ale and o ne abnorm al fem ale collected from litter and soil under the Pistacia terebinthus , 293 m a.s.l., Yuntdağı mountains , Osmancalı village, Yunusemre district, Manisa province, 6 November 2021; four females and one male from litter and soil under Pinus brutia , 224 m a.s.l., Kazdağları mountains , Hasanboğuldu area, Edremit district, Balıkesir province, 25 June 2022; two males from litter and soil under Pinus pinea , 506 m a.s.l., Madra mountains , Kozak plateau, Aşağıcumalı village, Bergama district, İzmir province, 26 June 2022 – Türkiye; coll. M. Akyol.

Remarks: Raphignathus arcus was firstly desc ribed based on adult females from Afyonkarahisar, İzmir and Manisa provinces (the Aegean region of Türkiye), and collected from litter and soil under Cirsium vulgare (Asteraceae) , Crataegus monogyna (Ros aceae), Hypa rrhenia hirta (Po - aceae), Juniperus oxycedrus (Cupressaceae) , Olea europaea (Oleaceae) , Quercus coccifera (Fagaceae) , Rosa canina (Rosaceae) and Verbascum sp. (Scrophulariaceae) ( Akyol, 2021). In this study, the samples under the new plants including Pinus brutia , P. pinea (Pinaceae) , Pistacia terebinthus (Anacardiaceae) were given from Manisa, Balıkesir and İzmir provinces, Türkiye.

The firs t description of m ale of R. arcus with a v ariation i n the number of genital setae in a female are given. In a female of Raphignathus arcus , one side of the genital shields has 4 setae but other side bears 3 setae ( Fig. 1H ). Species of Raphignathus have 3 or 4 pairs of genital s etae. Variations in the number of genital setae (4 setae on one side and 3 setae other side, 3 setae on one side and 2 setae other side) were reported in some species of this genus by Gerson (1968), Khanjani and Ueckermann (2003), KoÇ and Akyol (2004), Doğan (2006), Akyol (2018) and Bingül et al. (2018).

Figures

Figure 1. Raphignathus arcus Akyol (male): A. Dorsal view of idiosoma, B. Ventral view of idiosoma, C. Leg I, D. Leg II, E. Leg III, F. Leg IV, G. Palp, H. Abnormal genital setae of female of R. arcus.