Crotonia pyemaireneri Colloff, 2009, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Colloff, Matthew J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Sarcoptiformes
Crotoniidae
Crotonia
Crotonia pyemaireneri

description: Crotonia pyemaireneri sp. nov.
(Fig. 2)
Dimensions: holotype female body length 1126, breadth 544; paratype female length 1043, breadth 474. Ratio of length of prodorsum to total length: 0.31.
Prodorsum: rostrum with very prominent naso; rostral setae straight, smooth (Fig. 2 a). Lamellar setae recurved, with short spinose ornamentation. Lamellar apophyses extending anteriorly as far as bases of rostral setae, half as long as their mutual distance. Interlamellar apophyses twice as long as broad; interlamellar setae slender, flagelliform, smooth; extending anteriorly only just beyond apices of rostral setae. Prodorsal ridges short, extending one third of the distance between interlamellar and lamellar apophyses; strongly-developed posterior inter-bothridial ridge present; cuticle posterior of ridge microporose. Median alveolar field present.
Notogaster: ratio of length to breadth 1.53; broadest at level between seta e 2 and f 2 (Fig. 2 a). Dorsosejugal suture complex, diffuse, with pre-notogastral shield separated from notogastral shield by transverse hyaline strip on which tubercles of setae c 1 positioned. With 13 pairs of notogastral setae, c and e series and f 2 smooth, f 1 and h series with short spinose ornamentation. Notogastral shield discrete, with microporose microsculpture except for narrow lateral tuberculate strips. Setae c 3 flagelliform, on well-developed apophyses larger than those of interlamellar setae, projecting beyond anteriolateral margins of the notogaster. Setae c 1 as long as width of pre-notogastral shield (57), on tubercles. Distance between base of apophyses of c 3 and c 1, and both c 1 97 and 186 respectively. Lateral hyaline strip (suprapleural scissure) well developed, bearing tubercles of setae cp, e 2 and f 2. Setae cp flagelliform, much longer (215) than other notogastral setae, then f 2; d 2 shortest, setiform, on alveloli. Tubercles of setae f 2 squat, not projecting beyond lateral margin; gla positioned medial to f 2. Apophyses of spiniform setae f 1 projecting laterally, slightly separated from those of h 1; joined by transverse ridge (Fig. 2 c); apophyses of h 1 projecting posteriolaterally. Setae h 2 60, spinose; their apophyses strongly converging towards apices; caudal margin between them transverse, apophyses of setae h 3 markedly shorter than those of f 1, and h 1, positioned ventral and posterior of h 1 when viewed dorsally.
Ven t er: epimeral microsculpture punctate, sparsely tuberculate in region posterior of epimere IV (Fig. 2 b); epimeral setae smooth, spiniform, formula 3-1-3-3; setae 3c longer than others, on prominent tubercles.
Circumgenital foramen and genital plates sub-circular. Each genital plate 180 long, 120 broad with eight spiniform setae. Anal plate 60 broad, 278 long. Setae of p series well-developed, smooth, on short tubercles, subequal; p 1 slightly longer, positioned close together (Fig. 2 b).
Material examined: holotype: gravid female (with 8 eggs); paratype: 1 gravid female (with 7 eggs). Both specimens from Mt. Michael.
Etymology. This species is named for the Pyemmairrener Aboriginal People of Northeast Tasmania. The specific name, pyemaireneri, represents the latinised spelling.
Remarks. Crotonia pyemaireneri sp. nov. is a member of the Cophinaria species group, and shares with C. cophinaria (Michael, 1808), C. brachyrostrum (Hammer, 1966), C. jethurmerae Lee, 1985 and C. lyrata Colloff, 1990, the absence of setae c 2, and has a bifurcate caudal apophyseal complex in which apophyses of h 2 are much longer than the others. Of these species, C. cophinaria has setae of the c series with spinose ornamentation and c 3 are on short tubercles rather than on strongly-developed apophyses. Crotonia lyrata and C. cophinaria have prominent apophyses of setae f 2, protruding posteriolaterally beyond the margin of the notogaster, whereas in C. jethemurae and Crotonia pyemaireneri sp. nov. the setae f 2 are on tubercles situated on the suprapleural scissure.
Crotonia pyemaireneri sp. nov. is unique within the genus in having setae cp the longest of the notogastral setae. It has closest morphological affinity with C. jethemurae from South Australia. Crotonia pyemaireneri sp. nov. differs from the former species in the following additional character states: 1) it possesses lateral tuberculate strips on the notogaster, rather than uniform porose microsculpture; 2) setae c 1 are short and setiform, rather than long and flagelliform; 3) the apophyses of setae h 2 are strongly convergent apically; 4) setae cp are very long, extending as far as the tubercles of setae e 2, rather than extending only a third of the distance; 5) a well-developed trans-bothridial ridge is present; 6) the lamellar setae have spinose ornamentation, rather than being smooth; 7) apophyses of setae f 1 are connected by a transverse ridge, and the mutual distance between the apophyses of f 1 and h 1 is about the same as the length of that of f 1, whereas in C. jethemurae the mutual distance between these apophyses is more than twice their length and there is no transverse ridge present.
description: Published as part of Colloff, Matthew J., 2009, New species of Crotonia (Acari: Oribatida) from Tasmania Rainforest, and the habitat preferences of Crotoniidae, pp. 43-54 in Zootaxa 2027 on pages 47-49, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.186202