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

description: Crotonia alpina sp. nov.
(Figs. 1, 15, 17–19)
Dimensions. Holotype female length 1153, breadth 570; female paratype lengths 1067, 1082, 1122; breadths 537, 435, 474. Mean ratio of length of prodorsum to total length: 0.28
Female. Prodorsum: rostrum well-developed, with very prominent naso, lateral edges incurved; rostral setae (ro) 41, straight, spiniform, smooth (Fig. 1 a). Lamellar setae (le) 350, recurved, smooth, flagelliform. Lamellar apophyses 97, half as long as their mutual distance; extending anteriorly as far as apices of rostral setae (ro). Interlamellar apophyses twice as long as broad; interlamellar setae (in) slender, 280, flagelliform, smooth; extending anteriorly just beyond apices of lamellar apophyses. Prodorsal ridges extending half the distance between interlamellar and lamellar apophyses. Diameter of each bothridium 35; anteriolateral auriculate ridge of bothridium a blunt, curved projection, longer than broad, bearing a V-shaped ridge of cuticle projecting anteriolaterally; bothridial membrane reticulate with sub-hexagonal cells medially (Fig. 17 d). Inter-bothridial ridge almost transverse; very slightly bowed, crenellated. Median field of muscle sigilla present. Prodorsum porose.
Subcapitulum: with three setae on gena: setae a 10; m 1 5; m 2 5. Oral setae or 1 bifurcate, barbed bilaterally; or 2 and or 3 spiniform, subequal, 22 (Fig. 15 e).
Notogaster: ratio of length to breadth 1.63; broadest at bases of setae e 2 (Fig. 1 a). Dorsosejugal suture discrete, simple. With 14 pairs of smooth notogastral setae. Pre-notogastral shield bearing thin setiform setae c 2, 90, and shorter c 1, 55, and separated from notogastral shield by transverse hyaline strip. Apophyses of setae c 3 prominent, 25, at least twice as long as broad; setae c 3 flagelliform, 330, extending as far as bases of lamellar apophyses. Notogastral shield tuberculate except in central and lateral regions, bordered by two narrow strips of denser tubercles extending posteriorly almost as far as setae f 1. Caudal region with dense tubercles. Lateral hyaline strip (suprapleural scissure) well developed, bearing tubercles of setae cp and e 2. Tubercles of setae f 2 on sub-triangular projections extending beyond lateral margin. Setae cp, setiform, 190; d 2 flagelliform, 175; e 2 setiform, 135. Opisthosomal gland opening gla positioned at level slightly anterior of f 2. Flagelliform setae f 1 90, their apophyses projecting posteriolaterally, adjacent to those of h 1. Setae h 2 70, flagelliform, smooth; their apophyses 130, same length as their distance apart, parallel, diverging apically; caudal margin between them transverse, apophyses of setae h 3 positioned posterior of h 1 when viewed dorsally. Apophyses of setae f 1 and h 1 25–30, cylindrical, subequal; those of h 3 15, squat.
Ve n t e r: epimeres porose (Fig. 1 b); epimeral setae smooth, spiniform, formula 3-1-3-3; ca. 20–25 long except longer stout 3c on well-developed tubercle. Genital plates sub-circular. Perigenital region sparsely tuberculate. Each plate 207 long, 112 broad with eight spiniform setae; two pairs of aggenital setae, subequal in length to genital setae. Anal plate 60 broad, 257 long with three spiniform setae on posterior half of anal plate; three pairs of spiniform adanal setae. Ventral margin of notogaster surrounding anal plates U-shaped. Setae of p series smooth, flagelliform, p 3 90, p 2 71, p 1 118, on short tubercles located almost adjacent (Fig. 2a). Lateral view: Caudal margin almost perpendicular to notogastral shield (Fig. 17 d); distance between dorsal and ventral surface ca. 435. Apophyses of setae f 1 and h 1 and h 2 pointing dorsolaterally, those of h 2 prominent, horizontal, pointing posteriorly; those of h 3 positioned ventral of h 1, pointing posteriorly. Apophyses of setae p 1 on caudal region, the most dorsal of the p series, then p 2, then p 3. Distance between apophyses of p 1 and h 3 230. Pleuraspis with dense tubercles in dorsal half.
Male. Not known.
Material Examined and Locality Data. Holotype female and one paratype female, sieved litter, Eucalyptus forest, Eurobin Falls, Mount Buffalo National Park, Victoria, 36°43'3"S 146°50'29"E, 460 m, coll. D. Black. Two paratype females; soil, grass and litter on rocky slope, burnt area, Eucalyptus forest, Mount Buffalo National Park, 36°42’39”S, 146°50’06”, 680 meters above sea level (m, hereinafter), coll. J. Bloszyk & S. Konwerski, 16.vii.2007 (MTB-014). Holotype and one paratype deposited in Department of Entomology, Museum Victoria, Melbourne. Remaining paratypes in Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO Entomology, Canberra.
Other material: one nymph, same locality data as holotype; eight nymphs, MTB-014; one tritonymph, wet fern, Eucalyptus forest, Mount Buffalo National Park, 36°42’39”S, 146°50’06”, 680 m, coll. J. Bloszyk & S. Konwerski, 16.vii.2007 (MTB-016).
Etymology. The species is named for its type locality, within the Victorian Alps.
Remarks. Crotonia alpina sp. nov. differs from all other Crotonia spp. by the following combination of characters: 1) with three pairs of c setae; 2) setae c 3 extremely long, extending anteriorly as far as lamellar apophyses; 3) notogastral shield with narrow lateral strips of densely-packed small tubercles, and with extensive, diffuse tuberculate microsculpture on lateral, caudal and humeral regions; 4) bothridia without prominent anteriolateral auriculae; 5); setae c 1 about half the length of c 2, which are a third of the length of c 3; 6) inter-bothridial ridge a distinctive crenellated shallow curve; 7) setae d 2 very long, as long as setae cp.
Crotonia alpina sp. nov. is a member of the Capistrata species-group (Colloff, 2009b) and is morphologically most similar to C. tasmaniana Colloff, 2009. It differs in having setae c 3 and c 1 about twice as long, and d 2 at least three times as long, as those of C. tasmaniana, and h 2 curved, flagelliform rather than spiniform. The epimeres of C. alpina are porose whereas those of C. tasmaniana are tuberculate laterally. The apophyses of setae h 3 of C. alpina are markedly posterior of those of setae p 1 whereas in C. tasmaniana, they are lateral of p 1.
description: Published as part of Colloff, Matthew J. & Perdomo, Giselle, 2009, New species of Crotonia (Acari: Oribatida: Camisiidae) from Nothofagus and Eucalyptus forests in Victoria, Australia, with a redescription of the fossil species Crotonia ramus (Womersley, 1957), pp. 1-36 in Zootaxa 2217 on pages 3-5, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.189961