Copidognathus gibbus
Creators: name: Durucan, Furkan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Trombidiformes
Halacaridae
Copidognathus
Copidognathus gibbus

description: Copidognathus gibbus (Trouessart, 1889) (Figs. 5A–L, 6A–H, 7A–E, Table 4)
Redescription – Measurements presented in Table 4.
Morphology and notes
Female – All dorsal plates well developed. Porose areolae both dorsal and ventral plates with rosette pores (Fig. 5C). Idiosoma anteriorly with pointed protuberance. AD has “A” shaped internal sclerite. AD rectangular posteriorly. OC with two corneae. PD with single costae and with 3–5 rosette pores wide. Pair of ds-1 near lateral margin of AD. Setae ds-2 on OC. ds-3 to ds-5 on PD. Setae ds-5 long and stout (78 long). Ventral plates uniformly punctated. First epimeral process with prominent epimeral processes both female and male specimens. GA truncate anteriorly with three pairs of setae. Genital sclerites a pair of sgs. Ovipositor extending far beyond GO and pgs-1 (Fig. 5F).
Gnathosoma (Fig. 5J) 1.38 times longer than wide. Gnathosomal base with pair of distinct areolae. One pair of maxillary setae on gnathosomal base, other pair half-way along rostrum. Rostrum triangular, reaching end of P2. Tectum with large ridge-like process. Rostrum as long as 0.48 of gnathosoma length. Rostral sulcus long, reaching up to 0.6 of rostral length. Palps are slender and consist of four segments. P1 to P4 lengths 13, 35, 10, 40 respectively. P1 and P3 without setae, P2 with single seta, P4 with three setae at basal whorl. P4 longer than P2.
All legs with lamellae (Fig. 6A–F) Some of lamellae with reticulate patterns as illustrated. All basifemura and telofemora with ventrolateral lamellae. Genua I and II with lamellae, genua III and IV has no lamellae. All tibiae each with two lamellae ventrolaterally and ventromedially. Trochanter III and IV with triangular projection. Leg chaetotaxy from trochanter to tarsus (bipectinated setae between parentheses, parambulacral setae excluded): leg I: 1, 2, 5, 4, 7(2), 65; leg II: 1, 2, 5, 4, 7(1), 3; leg III: 1, 2, 2, 3, 5(1), 3; leg IV: 0, 1, 2, 3, 5(1), 2. Tarsi I to IV with 3, 3, 4, 3 dorsal setae and 32, 0, 0, 0 ventral setae. Delicately pectinate setae exist on basifemora 2, 2, 1, 1, telofemora 1, 1, 0, 0, genua 1, 1, 1, 1 and tibiae 1, 1, 1, 1. All legs with two lateral claws with accessory process and a small bidentate median claw. Fossa membrane well-developed in tarsi I and II, while slender in tarsi III and IV.
Male – Male is similar to female except for the genital plate (Fig. 5G). Spermatopositor large (115), extending beyond ring of pgs (Fig. 5I). GO 50 long, 38 wide. GO surrounded by 20 pgs. Four pairs of sgs are present; anterior pairs hair-like, posterior ones spur-like (Fig. 5H). Distance between edges of GA and GO 75, equalling 0.66 of GO length.
Protonymph – Dorsal and ventral plates and porose areolae on plates less developed than adults (Figs. 5B, E). AD with three areolae and glp-1 on lateral margin of the plate. Pair of ds-1 on middle areolae. OC longer than wide, not tail like and posteriorly extending to almost level of leg III insertions. PD with a pair of costae which is two rosette pores wide. AE with three pairs of setae and a pair of epimeral pores. PE with one dorsal and two ventral setae. Genitoanal plate is almost rectangular with genital acetabula. No setae on genital plate. Gnathosoma longer than wide. Tectum triangular and with reticulate patterns. Palps four segmented (Fig. 5K).
Leg chaetotaxy (Figs. 6G–H, 7A–B): leg I, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5(1), 6; leg II, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5(1), 3; leg III, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5(1), 4; leg IV, 0, 1+2(basifemur + telofemur), 3, 5(1), 3. Each of tibiae I to IV with one bipectinate setae. All legs with two lateral claws with accessory process but large pectines (oil immersion) and a small bidentate median claw.
Larva – Dorsal plates smaller than protonymph. The larva is charecterized by its distinctive big reticulate patterns on dorsal plates. AD with pair of gland pores and pair of setae. OC large with a gland pore and pore canaliculus. PD anteriorly narrow and has one costae. Ds-4 and ds-5 at 0.37 and 0.7 of its total length, respectively. Pair of ds-6 has not seen. Glp-3 on PD situated between ds-4 and ds-5 (Fig. 5A). Gnathosoma longer than wide. Palps four segmented (Fig. 5L). Leg chatetotaxy (Fig. 7C–E); leg I, 1, 1+3, 4, 5, 3; leg II, 1, 1+3, 4, 5, 4; leg III, 0, 1+2, 3, 5, 4. Lamellae not developed (Fig. 7C).
Remarks
There are several natural groups within the genus Copidognathus, one of which is the gibbus group, comprising 50 valid species (Lee et al., 2023). Three species from this group (C. gibbus, C. majusculatus, and C. remipes) have previously been reported from Türkiye (Durucan, 2019). Copidognathus gibbus was first described by Trouessart (1889) from the littoral zones of the French Atlantic and French Mediterranean. The species was later recorded from fine sand sediments at a depth of 2 m in Antalya (Yakamoz Beach), based on adult specimens (Durucan, 2019). The protonymph stage of C. gibbus was reported and illustrated by Morselli (1970) from Livorno, Italy (Tyrrhenian Sea). The morphological characteristics of the protonymph specimens from Türkiye correspond with those from Italy.
description: Published as part of Durucan, Furkan, 2024, Three new records and some juveniles of the genus Copidognathus (Acari, Halacaridae) from Türkiye, pp. 771-796 in Persian Journal of Acarology 13 on pages 775-776, DOI: 10.22073/pja.v13i4.85812, http://zenodo.org/record/14668778