Austrophthiracarus paralongisetosus Liu 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Liu, Dong
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Sarcoptiformes
Phthiracaridae
Austrophthiracarus
Austrophthiracarus paralongisetosus

description: Austrophthiracarus paralongisetosus sp. nov.
(Figs 1 A–F)
Diagnosis. Surface of body densely punctate; median crista and posterior furrows of prodorsum absent; lateral ca- rinae reaching sinus; dorsal sigillar field broad in distal end, longer than laterals; sensilli long, thick and setiform; interlamellar setae long, robust, erect, sparsely barbed in distal half; lamellar setae short and thin; rostral setae thicker than lamellar setae, and curved inward; exobothridial setae vestigial; 17 pairs of long notogastral setae and two pairs of lyrifissures ia and im present; two additional setae inserted in h and ps series, respectively; vestigial setae f 1 posterior to setae h 1; formula of genital setae 6(4+2): 3; setae g 6 situated at level of setae g 5; four pairs of adanal setae present, setae ad 3 thinnest and shortest; h> h–h; setae d situated nearly in the middle of femora I, at level of setae v’’.
Description. Measurements. Holotype: Prodorsum: length 315, width 220, height 115; setae: ss 115, ro 95, le 30, in 195; notogaster: length 550, width 415, height 400; setae: c 1 245, cp 130, d 1 215, e 1 215, h 1 200, h 3 90, ps 1 200, ps 4 60; ventral region: ad 1 60, ad 2 100, ad 2 ’ 100, ad 3 30, an 1 48, an 2 50; genito-aggenital plate 165×120, anoadanal plate 205×150. Paratypes: Prodorsum: length 300–345, width 205–230, height 110–125; notogaster: length 525–570, width 405–435, height 385–405.
Integument. Colour light brown. Surface of body densely punctate.
Prodorsum (Figs 1 A–B). Median crista, posterior furrows absent; lateral carinae reaching sinus; sigillar fields distinct, dorsal region broad in distal end, longer than lateral regions; sensilli (ss) long, thick, rough and setiform, tapering distally; interlamellar setae (in) long, robust and erect, sparsely covered with small spines in distal half; lamellar setae (le) short spiniform, thin, rough and semi-erect; rostral setae (ro) rough, directed inwards, thicker than lamellar but thinner than interlamellar setae; exobothridial setae (ex) vestigial; comparative length: in>ss>ro> le; in / le ≈6.5, ro / le ≈3.2; mutual distance of setae: in–in / ro–ro ≈1.7.
Notogaster (Fig. 1A). 17 pairs of long (c 1 / c 1 – d 1 ≈1.8) setae present, sparsely barbed in distal half, except setae ps 4 and h 3 thinner and shorter; setae c 1 and c 2 slightly far from anterior border than setae c 3; two additional setae pres- ent (h 1 ’, and ps 1 ’) with distribution as depicted in Fig. 1A; vestigial setae f 1 positioned posterior to setae h 1, vestigial setae f 2 present; two pairs of lyrifissures ia and im present.
Ventral region (Figs 1A, C–D). Setae h of mentum longer than distance between them. Nine pairs of genital setae (g) arranged in two rows with formula: 6(4+2): 3; setae g 6 situated at level of setae g 5; ano-adanal plates each with six straight and rough setae; anal setae (an) thick and rough; setae ad 2 and ad 2 ’ longest and thicker; setae ad 1 and anal setae similar in length; setae ad 3 short and thinner; comparative length: ad 2 = ad 2 ’>ad 1>an 2>an 1>ad 3.
Legs (Figs 1 E–F). Chaetotaxy of legs complete; setal counts for leg segments: I: 1-4-2(2)-5(1)-19(3); II: 1-3- 2(1)-3(1)-12(2), III: 2-2-1(1)-2(1)-10, IV: 2-1-1-2(1)-10; setae d on femora I inserted at level of setae v’’; setae a’’ on tarsi I, and setae ft’’ and a’’ on tarsi II curved distally; setae s and pv’ on tarsi IV present; setae s on tarsi I and II present.
Material examined. Holotype: 1 adult (NIGA, in alcohol), China: Sichuan Province, Ganzi, Luding County, Moxi Town, Hailuogou National Park, from litter under coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest, 4 Aug. 2018, leg. Dong Liu. Paratypes: 3 adults (NIGA, in alcohol), same data as holotype.
Etymology. The prefix para is Latin meaning “near” and refers to the similarity of new species with Austrophthiracarus longisetosus Liu & Chen, 2014.
Remarks. This new species is morphologically most close to Austrophthiracarus longisetosus Liu & Chen, 2014 and Austrophthiracarus villosus (Niedbała, 1982) in the presence of long interlamellar and notogastral setae, lateral carinae present, and 17 pairs of notogastral setae, but can be differed by: (1) sensilli long, thick and setiform, tapering distally (versus distally dilated and barbed in A. villosus; bacilliform with thin and smooth head in A. longisetosus); (2) lateral carinae reaching sinus (versus not reaching sinus in A. longisetosus); (3) dorsal sigillar field broad in distal end (versus narrow in A. villosus); (4) distance between rostral setae longer (in–in / ro–ro =1.7) (versus in–in / ro–ro = 1.1 in A. longisetosus; in–in / ro–ro ≈ 2.3 in A. villosus); (5) no spines on surface between rostral setae (versus with spines in A. villosus); (6) interlamellar setae not flagellate distally (versus flagellate distally) (7) lamellar setae thin and spiniform (versus thick, flagellate distally and strongly curved inward in distal half in A. longisetosus); (8) rostral setae long, strong and curved inward (versus much shorter, spiniform and semi-erect); (9) exobothridial setae vestigial (versus not vestigial); (10) vestigial setae f 1 posterior to setae h 1 (versus anterior to setae h 1 in A. longisetosus); (11) two pairs of lyrifissures present (versus three pairs); (12) mentum setae h> h–h (versus h <h–h in A. villosus); (13) formula of genital setae 6(4+2): 3 (versus 7(4+3): 2 in A. villosus); (14) four pairs of adanal setae present (three to four pairs in A. villosus; three pairs in A. longisetosus); (15) setae d situated nearly in the middle of femora I (versus near distal end of article in A. longisetosus).
description: Published as part of Liu, Dong, 2020, Contribution to the knowledge of the ptyctimous mite genus Austrophthiracarus (Acari, Oribatida, Steganacaridae) with descriptions of two new species from China, pp. 138-144 in Zootaxa 4786 (1) on page 139, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4786.1.11, http://zenodo.org/record/3864949