Cingulacarus gangeticus Elsen, 1975

Kazemi, Shahrooz & Klompen, Hans, 2024, Description of the second species of Cingulacarus Elsen (Acari, Mesostigmata, Diplogyniidae), and notes on the genus, Zootaxa 5397 (2), pp. 225-238 : 227

Cingulacarus gangeticus Elsen, 1975

Figures 18 and 21

Cingulacarus gangeticus Elsen, 1975: 348 .

Notes. In his description of the dorsal shield, Elsen (1975) mentioned 41 pairs and one unpaired setae on the dorsal shield, including one anterior and one posterior pair located ventrally. However, examination of specimens at hand indicated its dorsal shield bears only 32 pairs of setae, J5 and five pairs of posterior R -series setae are captured by the ventrimarginal shields ( Figure 21 ), and two setae illustrated in Elsen’s Figure 14 are actually pore-like structures: one seta lateral to j5–j6 and behind z5 is a poroid, and one lateral to J1 is a gland pore. Second, Elsen (1975) in his description of the sternal shield details of C. gangeticus mentioned “Les poils métasternaux sont très courts (3 µ,) et s’insèrent en regard de l’angle externe des plaques latigyniales.” (The metasternal setae are very short (3 µm) and inserted opposite the external of the latigynial plates). However, examination of the type material of C. gangeticus indicated that this species does not have st4, and the structures mentioned by Elsen (1975) are actually another pair of gland pores. Third, in his description of the legs, he wrote that genua II–IV have a long seta each, but only setae pd1 III–IV are elongate (almost 1.5 times as long as the genua length, measured dorsally). Seta pd2 on genu II in C. gangeticus is only moderately long (almost as long as the segment length).

Based on examination of the holotype and paratype from S. gangeticus , and another specimen removed from P. barbatus , we found that the female associated with P. barbatus was generally slightly larger in the body size (idiosomal length and width 718 and 504 vs. 654–655 and 492–495; legs I–IV 540, 461, 426 and 528 vs. 480–498, 439–446, 394–395 and 520–524 respectively; palp length 215 vs. 187–192; length of S3 and S5 182 and 215 vs. 147–155 and 178–182; length of sternal shield 42 vs. 35–37; length of h1–3 46, 28, 51 respectively, vs. 39–42, 25–27 and 42–44 [ Elsen (1975) listed h3 as 32 long in the original description]; dorsomedian setal length 9–10 vs. 5–7) [lengths of legs, second segment of chelicera, movable digit (67–71) and fixed digit (51–54) of chelicera were not provided in the original description of the species by Elsen (1975)]. However, the sternal setae st1 and st 2 in holotype (84 and 72) and paratype (84 and 76) are slightly longer than those in the specimen from P. barbatus (78 and 68). Otherwise, all morphological structures in type materials and another female specimen are similar in shape. Therefore, we agree with Elsen (1981) that they are conspecific.

Figures

FIGURES 14–18. Cingulacarus spp., female. 14–17. Cingulacarus kermanensis sp. nov. 14. Peritrematal shield; 15–16. Legs II–III, excluding coxa-trochanter; 17. Leg IV, genu; 18. Cingulacarus gangeticus Elsen, sternitigenital region, holotype. Scale bar: 100 µm.

FIGURES 19–22. Female. 19. Cingulacarus kermanensis sp. nov., ventrimarginal shield; 20. Cingulacarus kermanensis sp. nov., fusion point of ventrimarginal shields; dorsal shield extending to venter; 21. Cingulacarus gangeticus Elsen, fusion point of ventrimarginal shields; dorsal shield extending to venter; 22. Heterodiplogynium sp., dorsal shield and marginal band of small spines. Scale bars: 100 µm (19–21), 50 µm (22).