Knopkirie flascus Ma & Fan & Zhang 2019, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Ma, Min
name: Fan, Qing-Hai
name: Zhang, Zhi-Qiang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Mesostigmata
Phytoseiidae
Knopkirie
Knopkirie flascus

description: Knopkirie flascus sp. nov.
(Figures 2–3)
Diagnosis. Female: dorsal idiosomal shield mostly reticulate; bearing 17 pairs of setae, all smooth and short, except Z4 and Z5 serrated, Z5 terminally knobbed. Sternal shield smooth, with a tongue-shaped posteromedial lobe. Epigynal shield smooth. Peritremes extending forward to bases of j1. Ventrianal shield pentagonal, bearing three pairs of pre-anal setae, solenostomes gv3 immediately posterior to JV2. Calyx of spermathecal apparatus basally tubular, terminal two thirds round-bottom-flask shaped, with a short parallel-sided tubular neck; atrium expanded, pear-shaped; major duct narrow, lightly sclerotised. Cheliceral movable digit with one to two teeth, fixed digit with four teeth. Legs I−IV with 1, 1, 7 and 6 macrosetae, respectively.
Description. Adult female (n =1).
Dorsal shield (Fig. 2A) with prominent lateral reticulation, 289 long, 205 wide, bearing 17 pairs of setae, all setae (except Z4 and Z5) smooth, Z4 and Z5 serrated, Z5 apically knobbed, Z5 obviously longer than others. Dorsal shield with nine pairs of discernible lyrifissures (id1, id6, is1, idx, idm1, idm2, idm3, idm6 and idl2) and one pair of discernible gland openings (gd1). Sublateral setae r3 and R1 smooth, on soft membranous cuticle, r3 at level of z4, R1 at level of shield incisions, R1 longer than r3. Peritremes extending forward to bases of j1. Lengths of setae: j1 11, j3 15, j4 12, j5 12, j6 13, z2 15, z4 17, z5 12, s4 18, J2 15, J5 6, Z1 19, Z4 29, Z5 44, S2 26, S4 25, S5 4, r3 10, R1 15.
Ventral idiosoma (Fig. 2B). Sternal shield 77 long and 79 wide, mostly smooth, with a few striae near anterior margin, posterior margin with a tongue-shaped posteromedial lobe; three pairs of smooth setae (st1, st2 and st3) and two pairs of lyrifissures (iv1 and iv2) present on the shield; s4 on a pair of small platelets, lyrifissure not discernible. Epigynal shield smooth, 82 long, 60 wide at level of setae st5. Length of setae: st1 16, st4 12, st5 17, st2 and st3 broken. Paragenital lyrifissures present between st5 and ZV1. A few thin and long transversal sclerites present between genital and ventrianal shields. Ventrianal shield wider than epigynal shield, 91 long, 85 wide at ZV2 level, with three pairs of pre-anal setae (JV 1, JV2 and ZV 2), solenostomes gv3 immediately posterior to JV2. Setae ZV1, ZV3, JV5 and six pairs of lyrifissures on cuticle surrounding ventrianal shield. Setae JV5 smooth, longer than others. Two pairs of metapodal platelets present on soft cuticle, primary metapodal platelet elongate, 13 long, 7 wide, secondary platelet small, 7 long, 2 wide; Length of setae: JV1 8, JV2 lost, JV5 17, ZV1 8, ZV2 lost, ZV3 7.
Spermathecal apparatus (Fig. 2D) Calyx round-bottom-flask shaped, with a short parallel-sided tubular neck; atrium expanded, pear-shaped; major duct narrow, lightly sclerotised.
Gnathosoma. Chelicera (Fig. 2C) with movable digit 21 long, bearing one to two teeth, fixed digit 23 long, bearing four visible teeth, pilus dentilis 5 long, close to fourth tooth.
Legs (Fig. 3). Leg I 252 long; setal formula of Ge I 2-2 /2-2/1-2, including one stout and knobbed macroseta; Ti I and Bt I without macrosetae. Leg II 223; Ge II 1-2 /1-2/0-1, including one knobbed macroseta; Ti II and Bt II without macroseta; Bt II 1-1 /0-1/0-1. Leg III l209; Ge III 1-2 /1-2/0-1, including two stout and knobbed/bluntly tipped setae; Ti III 1 1/1 2/1 0, including three stout and knobbed/bluntly tipped setae; Bt III 1-1 /0-1/0-1, including two stout and knobbed/bluntly tipped setae. Leg IV 257; Ge IV 1-2 /1-2/0-1, including two macrosetae; Ti IV 0-1/1-2/1-1, including three macrosetae; Bt IV 1-1 /0-1/0-1, including one macroseta.
MALE. Unknown.
Specimens examined. Holotype female, Rarotonga: nr Tevas Villa, ex. Mangifera indica leaves, 22 October 2017, by Q.-H. Fan.
Etymology. The species name flascus is derived from the Latin flasca, indicating the shape of spermathecal apparatus of this new species.
Remarks. The description of this species is based on a single specimen. It could be included in the Knopkirie petri species-group (Beard 2001). The new species is similar to K. patriciae Beard, 2001 in that tibia III has three macrosetae and the cheliceral movable digit has one or two recurved teeth (Figs 2C & 3C). It can readily be distinguished from the latter by the structure of the calyx of the spermathecal apparatus, which is round-bottom-flask shaped, with a parallel-sided tubular neck and an expanded, pear-shaped atrium (Fig. 2D); JV5 of the new species are not knobbed (Fig. 2B).
description: Published as part of Ma, Min, Fan, Qing-Hai & Zhang, Zhi-Qiang, 2019, Phytoseiid mites (Acari: Phytoseiidae) of the Cook Islands, pp. 527-540 in Zootaxa 4646 (3) on pages 531-533, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4646.3.5, http://zenodo.org/record/3351090