Neocoprozercon Fenďa & Mašán, 2012, gen. nov.
Creators: name: Fenďa, Peter
name: Mašán, Peter
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Mesostigmata
Coprozerconidae
Neocoprozercon

description: Neocoprozercon gen. nov.
(Figs 1–9)
Type species: Neocoprozercon europaeus sp. nov.
Diagnosis. Both sexes with idiosomal shields weakly sclerotised, without well-defined outlines. Dorsal idiosoma with podonotal shield in female or podonotal and opisthonotal shields in male and deutonymph, hypertrichous (more than 100 pairs of setae present), bearing two pairs of hypertrophied gland pores gdZ3 and gdZ 5 in the opisthonotal region. All stages lacking sternal gland pores gv1, adgenital pores gv2 and anal pores gv3. Podal plates absent. Male ventrianal shield fused to posterior margin of opisthonotal shield and expanded ventrally.
Description. Idiosoma dorso-ventrally flattened, suboval and small, not exceeding 300 μm in length. Integument pale in colour, very weakly sclerotised; soft cuticle without striation on surface and scutal area smooth, unornamented, with their margins not well indicated and detectable.
Dorsal idiosoma. Sexual dimorphism in dorsal shielding present: female with only podonotal shield developed, opisthonotal portion not armed, with soft cuticular integument on surface (except small irregular area close to medial posterior margin); male and deutonymph with dorsum entirely covered by two shields abutting each other. Female opisthonotum with small and irregular posteromedial area well sclerotised and dark in colour. Almost whole dorsum regularly polytrichous in all known stages, with more than 200 setae. Dorsal setae simple, smooth, needle-like, relatively short and generally subequal in length. Two pairs of gland pores (gdZ3 and gdZ5) on opisthonotum prominent, situated on circular platelets in female or on flat tubercles in male and deutonymph.
Ventral idiosoma. Tritosternum present, bifurcate. Sternal or sternogenital shield usually slightly asymmetric in shape, with lateral margins irregularly sinuated, lacking poroids and gland pores. Sternogenital shield of deutonymph divided into sternal and genital portions. Female with well separated anal and genital shields, with no ventral plates on opisthogastric region; anal shield of male anteriorly connected with ventral shield and posteriorly fused to ventral expansion of opisthonotal shield; deutonymph with separate anal and ventral shields adjacent to each other, and anal shield free. Metasternal and metapodal shields present, exopodal, parapodal and endopodal shields absent. Peritremes and peritrematal shields strongly reduced and very short in adults, normal and extending to the level of coxae I in deutonymphs.
Gnathosoma. Epistome a single, subtriangular smooth projection. Chelicera with dentate digits and well developed dorsal seta. Ventral surface of hypostome with four pairs of smooth simple setae. Deutosternum with smooth anterior margin and five transverse rows of denticles.
Legs. Setation of legs I-II-III-IV: coxae 2-2-2-1, trochanters 6-5-5-5, femora 13-11-6-6, genua 13-11-10-10, tibiae 14-10-9-10; tarsi II–IV with 16 setae.
Notes on the genus. The new genus Neocoprozercon is characterised by some exceptional characters that do not occur in Coprozercon, the only other genus of the family Coprozerconidae. This requires some amendments to the family diagnosis for Coprozerconidae introduced by Moraza & Lindquist (1998). Both genera are presently monotypic and may be distinguished from one another by the following characters. In Neocoprozercon, (1) dorsal surface is polytrichous, bearing 100–170 pairs of dorsal setae; the podonotal region has 70–80 pairs of setae in females, 65–75 pairs in males and 55–65 pairs in deutonymphs; the opisthonotal region has 80–90 pairs of setae in females, 65–80 pairs in males and 45–55 pairs in deutonymphs; (2) in the female, there is a small, irregularly formed, dark and well sclerotised plate on the medial posteriormost part of the opisthonotum; (3) in the male, the ventrianal shield and ventral expansion of the opisthonotal shield are connected with their posteriormost margins, a character shared with members of the family Zerconidae; (4) the lateral margins of the ventrianal shield of male are irregularly sinuate, bearing 1–3 pairs of ventral setae; the inner surface of the shield is has two pairs of ventral setae; (5) gland pores gv1-gv3 are absent; (6) parapodal shields are absent; (7) the epistome is subtriangular in shape, with smooth anterolateral margins; (8) the dorsal shields are smooth, with no sculptural pattern on the surface; (9) it is larger species, with idiosoma 220–300 μm in length. In Coprozercon, (1) the dorsal surface is holotrichous, bearing at most 45 pairs of dorsal setae; the podonotal region has 23 pairs of setae in the adults and deutonymph, the opisthonotal region has 22 pairs of dorsal setae in adults and 20 pairs in the deutonymphs (excluding two unpaired setae); (2) in the female, the posterior dorsal region is completely covered by soft cuticle, with no remnants of the opisthonotal shield; (3) in the male, the ventrianal shield is separate and free from the ventral expansion of the opisthonotal shield; (4) the lateral margins of the ventrianal shield of the male are almost regularly rounded, with no insertion of ventral setae; the inner surface of the shield has three pairs of ventral setae; (5) gland pores gv3 are present, gv1 and gv2 present in females; (6) the parapodal shields are present in the male; (7) the epistome has a flat base and slender, coarsely denticulate central projection; (8) the dorsal shields are lightly reticulated in the female, but more strongly reticulated in the male and deutonymph; (9) it is a smaller species, with idiosoma 190–270 μm in length.
Etymology. The genus name Neocoprozercon gen. nov. refers to the similarity of the new genus to the related genus Coprozercon. The name is masculine in gender.
description: Published as part of Fenďa, Peter & Mašán, Peter, 2012, Neocoprozercon europaeus gen. nov., sp. nov., the first member of the family Coprozerconidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) in the Palaearctic Region, pp. 40-46 in Zootaxa 3204 on pages 40-43, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.212533