Eutrombicula batatas ( Linnaeus, 1758 )

Bassini-Silva, Ricardo, Jacinavicius, Fernado de Castro, Muñoz-Leal, Sebastián, Maturano, Ralph, Welbourn, W. Calvin, Ochoa, Ronald, Bauchan, Gary R. & Barros-Battesti, Darci M., 2018, A new species of the genus Eutrombicula Ewing, 1938 (Trombidiformes: Trombiculidae) and new records for the species Eutrombicula batatas (Linnaeus, 1758) in Brazil, Acarologia 1938 (4), pp. 976-986 : 984-985

Eutrombicula batatas ( Linnaeus, 1758)

New records — 1 larva (IBSP 349D), Butantan, São Paulo municipality, São Paulo state, 09-VI-1935, “rodent” unidentified ( Rodentia : Cricetidae ); 1 larva (IBSP 350A), same locality, 06-VI-1935, “rodent” unidentified ( Rodentia : Cricetidae ); 2 larvae (IBSP 383), same locality, 09-X-1933, Rattus norvegicus ( Rodentia : Muridae ); 5 larvae (IBSP 484C), same locality, 29-X-1933, Didelphis aurita ( Didelphimorphia : Didelphidae ); 1 larva (IBSP 1690), same locality, Crotophaga ani ( Cuculiformes : Cuculidae ); 1 larva (IBSP 1647), Morro Grande,

Cotia municipality, São Paulo state, 20-II-1939, “owl” unidentified ( Strigiformes ; Strigidae );

2 larvae (IBSP 1638), Wenceslau Braz municipality, Parana state, 03-III-1939, Cavia aperea ( Rodentia : Caviidae ); 2 larvae (IBSP 2128), Santa Cruz do Sul municipality, Rio Grande do Sul state, 04-XII-1951, Hidrochoerus hidrochoeris ( Rodentia : Caviidae ); 10 larvae (IBSP 13285), Tucuruí municipality, Pará state, no date, Nyctibius griseus ( Nyctibiiformes : Nyctibiidae ).

Molecular analysis

Two samples (paratypes) of the new species were submitted to PCR and were positive to the 18S gene PCR and amplified two identical fragments of 409-bp (GenBank accession numbers: MG707783 and MG707784 ). BLAST comparisons of these sequences showed

99.7% (408/409-bp) of identity with homologous sequences from Eutrombicula splendens ( KP325057 ) and 99.5% (407/409-bp) from Quadraseta brasiliensis ( MF113413 ; MF113412 ; KY934464 ). None of the samples amplified for the COI gene.

In addition, we obtained partial sequences for the 18S gene from the new species. These sequences are the first molecular identification of this genus for Brazil. At this time, it is still not possible to infer molecular differences between species that have a high similarity to Eutrombicula daemoni n. sp. based on an analysis of their 18S sequences, due to the slow rate of evolution of this gene, so different genera when compared have high similarity, which reflects that these species belong to a same family of mites.

Unfortunately, there are only these two species of Eutrombicula with 18S sequences deposited in Genbank. It is necessary to enrich the gene bank for species of this genus for future comparisons. Until now, we do not have recent material of E. batatas for molecular analysis and didn’t possible comparisons with the new species.