Cunaxa asiatica Kalúz & Ermilov 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Kalúz, Stanislav
name: Ermilov, Sergey G.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Trombidiformes
Cunaxidae
Cunaxa
Cunaxa asiatica

description: Cunaxa asiatica sp. nov.
(Figs. 1–4)
Diagnosis (female). Dorsal shields smooth. Proterosomal shield subtriangular, medial hysterosomal shield present, bearing setae c 2, c 1 –e 1. Palpal telofemur with short and straight apophysis, and with two relatively long palpal tibiotarsal setae. Venter with 4 pairs of sts between coxae III and genital region, and with a pair of paragenital setae; 2 sts and 1 sts present on basifemora III and IV, respectively. Leg setal formulae: coxae I–IV: 3-1-3-1 sts; basifemora 4-4-2-1 sts; telofemora 4-4-4-4 sts; proterosomal and hysterosomal shields present, medial hysterosomal shield with c 2, c 1 –e 1.
Description. FEMALE (holotype, 1 paratype). Body length 354 (330–377), width 249 (242–256).
Dorsum (Fig. 1). Propodosoma with subtriangular shield. Propodosomal shield 78 (77–79) long, 204 (196– 212) wide, bearing a pair of anterior (at) and posterior (pt) setose trichobothria and also two pairs of tactile setae (mps, lps). Anterior trichobothrium 196 (190–202), posterior trichobothrium 253 (250–256) long, distance between bases of mps–mps and lps–lps 47 (43–51) and 119 (118–120), respectively. Propodosomal and hysterosomal shields separated. Six pairs of tactile setae present on dorsal hysterosoma: c 1 –h 1, c 2. Proterosomal shield bears c 1 –e 1, c 2, setae f 1 –h 1 are situated on small platelets. Length of setae c 1 49 (45–52), c 2 23 (21–25), d 1 22 (22–22), e 1 25 (25–25), f 1 40 (38–41) and h 1 39 (37–40). Distance between bases of setae: c 1 –c 1 90 (88–91) about two times longer than length of c 1; d 1 –d 1 80 (78–81) about three times longer than length of d 1; e 1 –e 1 71 (70–71) about three times longer than length of e 1; f 1 – f 1 31 (30–32), slightly shorter than length of f 1; h 1 –h 1 63 (60–65) nearly twice longer than length of h 1. Cupules im present.
Venter (Fig. 2). Coxal plates very weakly sclerotized, coxae I–II and III–IV contiguous and finely striated. Setal formula of coxae I–IV: 3-1-3-1sts. Venter of hysterosoma with a pair of simple centromedial setae 20 (20–20) between coxae II and III on longitudinally striated integument, and with 3 pairs of hysterogastral setae 19 (18–20) on transversally striated integument arranged anteriorly to genital platelets. A pair of aggenital setae 19 (18–20) present close to anterior part of genital platelets. A pair of longitudinally striated genital platelets 48 (46–50) long and 27 (27–27) wide, each bearing four pairs of simple setae, setae increasing in length caudally: g 1 16 (15–16); g 2 16 (16–16); g 3 17 (17–17); g 4 17 (17–17), and a pair of adjacent ps 2 setae 14 (13–15), close to anal platelets. Genital papillae not visible.
Gnathosoma (Fig. 3A–C). Five-segmented palp 203 (195–210) long (including palpal trochanter) with palpal tibiotarsus slightly apically curved. (Palp (Fig. 3A, D) relatively slender; palpal chaetotaxy as follows: trochanter without setae; basifemur 47 (47–47) long with 1 dorsomedial simple seta 10 (10–11) long; inner surface of telofemur 32 (32–32) with 1 lateromedial apophysis 12 (12–12) and dorsodistal seta 11 (11–12); inner ventral surface of genu 40 (38–41) long with 1 laterodistal spine-like seta 11 (11–12), dorsally with 1 laterodistal seta 11 (11–11), and ventrally with mediodistal seta 19 (18–19); tibiotarsus 69 (68–71) inner surface with 1 long simple proximal seta 32 (30–33) and medially with 1 stout spine-like seta 20 (19–21), mediodorsal simple seta 17 (16–18)], outer surface with 1 dorsodistal simple seta 8 (7–8), dorsodistal solenidion 8 (7–8) and terminating with small short claw. Chelicera (Fig. 3C). Slender, 128 (126–132) long and 18 (17–18) wide at widest part; cheliceral segment I as well as the proximal part of segment II smooth, a distal seta 10 (9–11) present. Subcapitulum (Fig. 3B) robust, 145 (144– 145) long, with nearly rounded basal part 78 (76–79) long and 85 (83–87) wide, subcapitulum distally cone-shaped with two pairs of short adoral setae and four pairs of hypognathal setae (hg). Setae hg 4 48 (43–51) long, about two times longer than hg 2 24 (22–25), more than two times longer than hg 1 22 (22–22) and less than two times longer than hg 3 29 (28–31). Coxal region of subcapitulum smooth.
Legs (Fig. 4). All legs smooth, legs I–III shorter than leg IV. Chaetotaxy I–IV (excluding coxae) as follows: trochanters 1-1-1-1 sts; basifemora 4-4-2-1 sts; telofemora 4-4-4-4 sts; genu I—3 asl, 4 sts; genu II—1 asl, 5 sts; genu III—1 asl, 5 sts; genu IV—1 asl, 5sts; tibia I—1 asl, (1 asl, 1 mst), 4 sts; tibia II—1 asl, 5 sts; tibia III—1 bsl, 5 sts; tibia IV—1 smooth T, 4 sts; tarsus I—2 asl, fam, 1 dtsl, 11 sts, pretarsus with 1 dorsal and 1 ventral sts on each lobe; tarsus II—1 bsl, 1 dtsl, 12 sts, pretarsus with 1 dorsal and 1 ventral sts on each lobe; tarsus III—12 sts, 1 dtsl, pretarsus with 1 dorsal and 1 ventral sts on each lobe; tarsus IV—10 sts, 1 dtsl, pretarsus with 1 dorsal and 1 ventral sts on each lobe. Length and width of leg segments I–IV (coxa and trochanter not measured): basifemur 70 (65–75) long, 29 (28–30) wide; telofemur 28 (25–32) long, 24 (22–25]) wide; genu 27 (25–28) long, 20 (20–20) wide; tibia 37 (34–40) long, 17 (15–18) wide; tarsus 126 (125–127) long, 16 (15–17) wide at proximal part; total lengths of legs I–IV: 288 (283–293), 271 (265–277), 303 (294–311), 339 (336–342).
Male and preimaginal stages. Unknown.
Material examined. Holotype: Vietnam, Lam Dong Province, Bi Dup—Nui Ba National Park, mixed pine dominated forest, 12º10’– 12º11’N, 108º40’– 108º41’E, soil and litter (sifter), 6–7 December 2013, coll. A.E. Anichkin and S.G. Ermilov — 1 female. Paratype: Vietnam, Dong Nai Province, Dong Nai Biosphere Reserve, 11°23’ N, 107°22’ E, forest plantations (mainly of Dipterocarpaceae), soil and litter (sifter), 2 December 2013, coll. A.E. Anichkin and S.G. Ermilov — 1 female.
Type depository. The holotype and paratype are deposited in the collections of SNMB.
Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the continent, where the species was found—Asia.
Remarks. The new species, Cunaxa asiatica sp. nov., is morphologically most similar to C. doxa (Chaudri, 1980) in having the medial hysterosomal shield smooth and bearing c 1 –e 1, c 2. It differs from the latter by the presence of 1sts on basifemora IV, finger-like palpofemoral apophysis, and smooth setae c 1 –e 1 (vs. with 2 sts on basifemora IV, uncinate palpofemoral apophysis and spiculiform setae c 1 –e 1 in C. doxa).
description: Published as part of Kalúz, Stanislav & Ermilov, Sergey G., 2023, Two new species of Cunaxa (Acari, Prostigmata, Cunaxidae) from South-East Asia with a world key to the genus, pp. 521-536 in Zootaxa 5239 (4) on pages 523-527, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5239.4.4, http://zenodo.org/record/7635225