Sternoppia paraincisa, Ermilov, Sergey G., Sandmann, Dorothee, Marian, Franca & Maraun, Mark, 2013

Ermilov, Sergey G., Sandmann, Dorothee, Marian, Franca & Maraun, Mark, 2013, Three new species of the genus Sternoppia (Acari: Oribatida: Sternoppiidae) from Ecuador, Zootaxa 3641 (5), pp. 565-576 : 566-569

Sternoppia paraincisa sp. nov.

( Figs 1 –20)

Diagnosis. Body size 262–295 × 159–176. Rostrum weakly truncated, with two small lateral tubercles. Sensilli setiform, having six to seven long ramifying branches on dorsal side. Ten pairs of short notogastral setae present, similar in length. Setae c located postero-laterally to lyrifissures ia. Setae la inserted below posterior to lm. Sternal apodeme short. Epimere I striate. Anal plates with granules.

Description. Measurements. Body length 278 (holotype), 262–295 (mean 279; nine paratypes); body width 159 (holotype), 159–176 (mean 165; nine paratypes).

Integument ( Figs 1–3 , 19). Body color yellow-brownish. Surface of prodorsum, notogaster and anogenital region micropunctate (visible under high magnification, × 1000). Epimere I striate, epimere III+IV with weakly developed polygonal ornamentation. Anal plates with cerotegumental spherical granules (diameter up to 1), which are forming unclear longitudinal lines.

Prodorsum ( Figs 1 , 3, 5–10 ). Rostrum weakly truncated, with two small lateral tubercles. Costulae well developed, parallel, widely spaced. Rostral (ro, 24–28), lamellar (le, 36–41), interlamellar (in, 28–36) and exobothridial (ex, 20–24) setae setiform, with short cilia. Sensilli (ss, 61–69) setiform, having six to seven long ramifying branches on dorsal side.

Notogaster ( Figs 1 , 3, 4, 11 ). Ten pairs of notogastral setae short (lm clearly not reaching insertion of lp), similar in length (18–22), setiform, smooth. Setae c located postero-laterally to lyrifissures ia. Setae la inserted below lm. Lyrifissures ia, im, ip, ih and ips distinct, thin, located typically for genus. Opisthonotal gland openings (gla) located posteriorly to lyrifissures im.

Gnathosoma ( Figs 2 , 12–14). Subcapitulum longer than wide (61–69 × 45–49). Subcapitular setae setiform; h (24–28) and m (16–24) with short cilia, a shorter (12), smooth. Two pairs of adoral setae (or 1, or 2) present, short (4), thin, smooth. Palps (45–49) with setation 0–2–1–3–9(+ω). Setae of femora with long cilia, setae of genua and tibia weakly barbed, setae of tarsi smooth. Solenidion long, thickened, blunt-ended, pressed to the palptarsus surface. Chelicerae (65–69) with two setiform, barbed setae; cha (18–20) longer than chb (12–14). Small thorn located posteriorly to cha. Trägårdh’s organ (Tg) distinct.

Epimeral and lateral podosomal regions ( Figs 2 , 15–17). Sternal longitudinal apodeme present, short (not reaching level of sejugal apodemes). Epimeral setae 3a thickened, heavily ciliate; other setae setiform, with long or short cilia. Lengths of setae: 1a, 2a, 3a, 3b and 4b 20–24; 1c, 4a 49–57; other 28–36. Pedotecta I (Pd I) convex. Discidia (di) triangular, blunt-ended.

Anogenital region ( Figs 2 , 18–20). Six pairs of genital (g 1, 24; g 2– g 6, 20), one pair of aggenital (ag, 36–41), two pairs of anal (an 1, an 2, 12–16) and three pairs of adanal (ad 1, 24–28; ad 2, ad 3, 28–32) setiform, ciliate setae (except smooth g 1). Lyrifissures iad located in paraanal position.

Legs. Generally, similar with Sternoppia brasiliensis Franklin & Woas, 1992 . Formulas of leg setation and solenidia: I (1–5–2–4–20) [1–2–2], II (1–5–2–4–16) [1–1–2], III (2–3–1–3–15) [1–1–0], IV (1–2–2–3–12) [0–1– 0]; homology of setae and solenidia indicated in Table 1 . Setae p on tarsi I setiform; on tarsi tarsi II–IV thorn-like. Famulus setiform, blunt-ended. Solenidia ω 1 on tarsi I, ω 1 and ω 2 on tarsi II, σ on tibiae III thickened, blunt-ended; other solenidia setiform, thinner and longer.

Roman letters refer to normal setae (e to famulus), Greek letters to solenidia. Single prime (') marks setae on anterior and double prime (") setae on posterior side of the given leg segment. Parentheses refer to a pair of setae.

Type deposition. Holotype: male (ZISP). Paratypes: four males and three females (SZMN), two males (PC). Etymology. The prefix para is Latin meaning “near” and refers to the similarity between the new species and the species Sternoppia incisa Balogh & Mahunka, 1977 .

Remarks. Sternoppia paraincisa sp. nov. is very similar to Sternoppia incisa Balogh & Mahunka, 1977 from Bolivia, in having the combination of characters as follows: location of notogastral setae la and lm, lengths of notogastral setae, morphology of prodorsal setae, number of sensillar branches, morphology of ventral plate. The former, however, differs clearly from the latter by smaller body size (262–295 × 159–176 versus 331–357 × 193– 204 in S. incisa ), presence of notogastral setae c (versus absent, only alveoli present in S. incisa ), location of lyrifissures ia antero-medially to notogastral setae c (versus posteriorly or postero-laterally in S. incisa ), presence of granules on anal plates (versus absent in S. incisa ), and setiform sensilli (versus sensilli with weakly swollen head in S. incisa ).

FIGURES 12–20. Sternoppia paraincisa sp. nov., adult: 12—subcapitulum, right half; 13—palp; 14—chelicera, anterior part; 15—epimeral seta 1c; 16—epimeral seta 3a; 17—epimeral seta 4a; 18—genital plate, right; 19—anal plate, right; 20—adanal seta ad 1. Scale bars (12) 20 μm, (13–20) 10 μm.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 2. Sternoppia paraincisa sp. nov., adult: 1 — dorsal view; 2 — ventral view (legs not shown). Scale bar 50 μm.

FIGURES 3 – 11. Sternoppia paraincisa sp. nov., adult: 3 — prodorsum, lateral view (gnathosoma, epimeral setae and legs not shown); 4 — notogaster, posterior view; 5 — rostrum, dorso-anterior view; 6 — rostral seta; 7 — lamellar seta; 8 — interlamellar seta; 9 — sensillus; 10 — exobothridial seta; 11 — notogastral seta lm. Scale bars (3, 4) 50 μm, (5 – 11) 10 μm.

Tables

TABLE 1. Leg setation and solenidia of Sternoppia paraincisa sp. nov. (same for Sternoppia paramirabilis sp. nov. and S. fissurata sp. nov.)

Leg	Trochanter	Femur	Genu	Tibia	Tarsus
I	v'	d, (l), bv'', v''	(l), σ	(l), (v), φ1, φ2	(ft), (tc), (it), (p), (u), (a), s, (pv), v', (pl), l'', e, ω1, ω2
II	v'	d, (l), bv'', v''	(l), σ	(l), (v), φ	(ft), (tc), (it), (p), (u), (a), s, (pv), l'', ω1, ω2
III	l', v'	d, l', ev'	l', σ	l', (v), φ	(ft), (tc), (it), (p), (u), (a), s, (pv)
IV	v'	d, ev'	d, l'	l', (v), φ	ft'', (tc), (p), (u), (a), s, (pv)