Paralamellobates Bhaduri & Raychaudhuri, 1968

Behan-Pelletier, V. M., Li, D. & Fan, Q. H., 2016, Phylogenetic relationships of Paralamellobates: immature characters of P. misella (Berlese) place the genus in Punctoribatidae (Acari, Oribatida), Acarologia 56 (2), pp. 141-165 : 144-145

Paralamellobates Bhaduri & Raychaudhuri, 1968

Type species: Paralamellobates bengalensis Bhaduri & Raychaudhuri, 1968 ; p. 197

Diagnosis: Adult — Species comprising this genus are unique among poronotic Brachypylina ( Grandjean 1953) in having the following combination of character states. Cerotegument granular, present between pteromorph, pedotectum I, tutorium, and lateral body wall, extending medially on prodorsum to interlamellar region. Rostrum rounded medially with pair of strongly developed teeth. Lamellae broad, converging, cusps with medial and lateral teeth subequal in length. Medial margins of cusps parallel. Humerosejugal porose area Am long, oval; Ah present, poorly delimited. Genal tooth long, subtriangular, with carina extending along length. Tutorium narrow with pointed cusp. Pedotectum I convex dorsally; with dorsal margin ventral to insertion of seta ex. Pedotectum II present. Custodium triangular. Discidium triangular between acetabula III and IV. Dorsophragmata separate. Nine pairs of smooth, acuminate notogastral setae (setae c1, c3, d series and p3 absent). Lenticulus absent. Octotaxic organs developed as saccules, dimorphic: Sa, S2 and S3 long, filiform tubules, S1 elongated saccule. Posterior tectum developed, divided medially, with overlapping lobes. Pteromorphs curved ventrally, immovable, without line of desclerotization. Epimeral setal formula 3-1- 2-2; 1c barbed, longest and thickest epimeral seta. Genital setae 6 pairs, with few barbs; g1-g3 positioned on anterior margin of genital plate. One pair aggenital setae, 1 or 2 pairs of anal and adanal setae. Postanal porose present. Subcapitular mentum without tectum. Palp setal formula 0-2-1-3- 9(1); eupathidium acm subequal in length to solenidion, forming double horn with solenidion along length. Axillary saccule of subcapitulum present. Cheliceral digits toothed, chelicera with porose region abaxially. Tarsi monodactylous, without enlarged tarsal pulvillus. Solenidion absent from tibia IV. Solenidion ω 2 absent from tarsus II. Genua I, II and IV with ventral spur. Seta l" on genua I and II spinous, and distinctly thicker than other setae on these segments. Dorsal knobs or spines absent from tibia I distally.

Diagnosis: Immatures — Apheredermous. Body colorless, cuticle without sclerites or plicae, bearing granular cerotegument. All or most gastronotic setae long, setiform; larval setation unideficient, with 11 pairs (h3 not developed until protonymph), protonymph, deutonymph and tritonymph with 14 pairs (p3 not developed). Hysterosomal sclerites absent. Humeral organ absent from sejugal region. Without apodemato-acetabular tracheal system or porose homologues. Paraprocts atrichous in larva, protonymph and deutonymph. Epimeral setal formula (larva to tritonymph) 3-1-1, 3-1-2, 3-1-2, 3-1-2. Genital setal formula (larva to tritonymph): 0-1-3-5. Aggenital setal formula 0-0-1-1. Opisthonotal gland present in all instars. Cupule development normal. Bothridium and bothridial seta fully formed in all instars. Setation of protonymphal leg IV normal (0- 0-0-0-7). Seta d absent on tibiae I to IV and genua I to III.

Remarks:

Octotaxic System — Openings of notogastral saccules are minute and the filiform tubules are difficult to see, hence their presence may have been overlooked in previous descriptions and redescriptions of species of Paralamellobates , e.g., P ceylanicus ( Engelbrecht 1986) . The dimorphic morphology of the octotaxic system in Paralamellobates and Lamellobates , with Sa, S2 and S3 long, filiform tubules, and S1 an elongated saccule is unique among Brachypylina.

Classification — Lamellobates and Paralamellobates are very similar genera, differing primarily in the shape of the median dens of the lamella. Bhaduri and Raychaudhuri (1968) defined Paralamellobates (as subgenus of Lamellobates ) as having "lamellae with free tips" in contrast to the rounded medial dens found in species of Lamellobates . A further difference between the genera found in some keys is the number of pairs of anal and adanal setae, but this seems variable. The illustration of the type species, P. bengalensis ( Bhaduri and Raychaudhuri 1968, their fig. 6) shows 2 pairs of anal and 2 pairs of adanal setae, the complement in Lamellobates . Balogh (1972) and Balogh & Balogh (1992), although recognizing P. bengalensis as type species, defined Paralamellobates by the presence of only one pair of adanal setae and a large interlamellar area, in contrast with two pairs of adanal setae as well as a small interlamellar area for Lamellobates . Tseng (1984), who recorded P. bengalensis from Taiwan, illustrated (his fig. 157) 2 pairs of anal and 1 pair of adanal setae. Similarly, Ramani & Haq (1984) who reared P. bengalensis from India, show 2 pairs of anal and 1 pair adanal setae in their unpublished illustrations (N. Ramani pers. comm.). Subsequently, Engelbrecht (1986) and Behan-Pelletier (1998) discussed this discrepancy between the original diagnosis of Paralamellobates and that of Balogh (1972) and Balogh and Balogh (1992). Anal and adanal setation was not described for Paralamellobates misella ( Berlese, 1910) , but a single pair of anal and adanal setae was illustrated for its synonyms, P. ceylanicus and P. striatus ( Engelbrecht 1986, Behan-Pelletier 1998).