Pelethiphis Berlese, 1911

Mašán, Peter & Halliday, Bruce, 2010, Review of the European genera of Eviphididae (Acari: Mesostigmata) and the species occurring in Slovakia 2585, Zootaxa 2585, pp. 1-122 : 68-69

Genus Pelethiphis Berlese

Copriphis (Pelethiphis) Berlese, 1911: 185 . Type species Copriphis (Pelethiphis) insignis Berlese, 1911 , by original designation.

Diagnosis (adults). Dorsal idiosoma. Idiosoma dorso-ventrally flattened. Dorsal shield entire, suboval to subcircular, completely or incompletely covering dorsal idiosoma, never expanded ventrally, with flat or well developed vertex formed without ventral anterior sections of peritrematal shields, smooth or bearing fine surface reticulation. Dorsal shield with 29–33 pairs of setae; setae heterogeneous in length and form, some thickened and conspicuously elongate, others short or minute; vertical setae j1 lance-like or needle-like, elongate or short. Pore-like structures usually small, barely visible, not hypertrophied.

Ventral idiosoma. Presternal platelets present or absent. Ventral shields smooth or reticulate. Sternal shield well sclerotised, with three pairs of setae and two pairs of pores. In female, endopodal platelets II–III completely fused to sternal shield; endopodal platelets III–IV free on soft integument or anteriorly connected to posterolateral margins of sternal shield. Metasternal platelets present or absent, metasternal seta st4 and adjacent pore inserted in soft integument or on metasternal platelet. Epigynal shield with a pair of submedial genital setae, genital pores inserted in soft integument; post-genital sclerites absent or rarely present. Anal shield subtriangular, subcircular or trapezoidal, with three circum-anal setae. Exopodal platelets I–IV present or absent. Metapodal platelets present. Peritrematal shields developed along the whole peritreme, anterior section fused to dorsal shield but not forming a conspicuous arch-like structure below the vertex; peritremes long, anterior ends reaching at least to coxae I; post-stigmatic section of peritrematal shields short, not reaching beyond posterior margin of coxae IV. Lateral and opisthogastric integument simply striated, with normal or increased number of setae. In male, separate sterno-genital and anal shield present.

Gnathosoma . Palptarsus without paired macroeupathidia. Movable digit of chelicera with one robust subdistal tooth. Spermatodactyl short, simple or bulbiform distally. Epistome with elongated central projection and well or poorly developed wing-like lateral sections; lateral sections usually densely serrated on distal margin, sometimes smooth.

Legs. Setation of legs I-II-III-IV: coxae 2-2-2-1, trochanters 6-5-5-5, femora 13-11-6-6, genua 11-11-8-7 and tibiae 11-10-7-7 ( Table 3). Male legs with or without spurs.

Notes on the genus. The genus Pelethiphis is difficult to define, and its placement in our keys is only provisional. It appears to be a heterogeneous mixture of species that should be placed in several different genera (see also notes on the genus in the systematic account), and it needs a thorough taxonomic revision. The description of its type species, Pelethiphis insignis Berlese 1911 , was very brief and general. This seems to be a distinctive species that can be distinguished from the other Pelethiphis species by the following characters: (1) dorsal shield with more than 30 pairs of setae (32 or 33 pairs present); (2) apart from z1 and z5, all other dorsal setae are very elongate; (3) elongated medial and marginal dorsal setae are subequal in length; (4) lateral and opisthogastric soft integument hypertrichous, with 30–35 pairs of setae; (5) it is a large species, with the idiosoma about 950 µm in length.

The genus comprises about 15 described species ( Berlese 1882 a, 1911; Lombardini 1941; Ryke & Meyer 1957; Ryke 1959; Costa 1963; Spies & Ryke 1965; Koyumdjieva 1981; Arutunian 1992a). They are distributed mainly in Africa, with only three species reported from Europe, and only one from Slovakia (see key below). All representatives of the genus are associated with scarab beetles.

The other European species provisionally considered to belong to Pelethiphis have not been described in enough detail to allow them to be recognised [ Pelethiphis ciliatus (C. L. Koch 1839) ], or belong to other genera [ Pelethiphis puer ( Berlese 1910) and Pelethiphis undulatus ( Berlese 1921) ], so they cannot be included in the key below. These species are here considered as incertae sedis.