Coleoscirus Berlese, 1916

Skvarla, Michael J., Fisher, J. Ray & Dowling, Ashley P. G., 2014, A review of Cunaxidae (Acariformes, Trombidiformes): Histories and diagnoses of subfamilies and genera, keys to world species, and some new locality records, ZooKeys 418, pp. 1-103 : 66-69

Coleoscirus Berlese, 1916

Historical review.

Berlese (1916) erected Coleoscirus to accommodate two species, the type-species Coleoscirus halacaroides and Coleoscirus corniculatus . He had previously described two other species that would be assigned to the genus, Scirus curtipalpus (Berlese, 1888) and Scirus brevicornis (Berlese, 1905), but failed to recognize they belonged to Coleoscirus . Ewing (1917) described Scirus simplex from refuse hog hair in Illinois, USA. Thor and Willmann (1941) transferred Scirus curtipalpus , Scirus brevicornis , and Scirus simplex to Cunaxa and provided redescriptions and illustrations. Baker and Hoffmann (1948) described Cunaxa mexicana , as well as redescribing and illustrating Cunaxa simplex , Coleoscirus curtipalpus , and Coleoscirus brevicornis . Zaher et al. (1975b) reported Coleoscirus simplex from Egypt. Smiley (1975) provided an English translation of Berlese’s (1916) description of Coleoscirus but failed to include the genus in his key to genera; he also erected Pseudocunaxa for Cunaxa simplex and closely related species. Den Heyer (1978a) erected Coleoscirinae , designating Coleoscirus as the type genus and described Coleoscirus magdalenae and Coleoscirus tuberculatus ; he also synonymized Pseudocunaxa with Coleoscirus and Coleoscirus corniculatus with Coleoscirus curtipalpus . Shiba (1978) described Cunaxa mizunoi . Tseng (1980) erected Lapicunaxa horidula and Lapicunaxa monospinosus . Chaudhri (1980) described Pseudocunaxa baptus . Den Heyer (1980b) described Coleoscirus coatesi , Coleoscirus breslauensis , and Coleoscirus buartsus , and synonymized Coleoscirus magdalenae with Coleoscirus simplex . Den Heyer (1980c) erected the tribes Coleoscirini for Coleoscirus and Scutascirus and Neoscirulini for Neoscirula and Pseudobonzia . Smiley (1992) synonymized Lapicunaxa with Coleoscirus and transferred Cunaxa mizunoi and Pseudocunaxa baptus to Coleoscirus ; he also synonymized Cunaxa mexicanus with Coleoscirus curtipalpus and provided a key to known world species. Coleoscirus carnus and Coleoscirus disparis were described by Muhammad and Chaudhri (1992a). Inayatullah and Shahid (1993) described Pseudocunaxa carex , Pseudocunaxa mardi , and Pseudocunaxa kifayati , apparently unaware or ignoring that Den Heyer (1980) had synonymized Pseudocunaxa with Coleoscirus thirteen years earlier. Bu and Li (1987c) reported Coleoscirus buartsus from China. Corpuz-Raros (1996d) described six species of Coleoscirus : Coleoscirus intermedius , Coleoscirus barrioni , Coleoscirus dayamilocus , Coleoscirus bakeri , Coleoscirus leytensis , and Coleoscirus philippinensis . Hu (1997) reported Coleoscirus monospinosus , Coleoscirus horidula , and Coleoscirus buartsus from China. Bashir, Afzal, and Khan (2006) reaffirmed Den Heyer’s (1980) synonymization of Pseudocunaxa and Coleoscirus by treating Pseudocunaxa carex , Pseudocunaxa mardi and Pseudocunaxa kifayati as Coleoscirus and described Coleoscirus trudus ; they also mention a second paper by Muhammad and Chaudhri (1992b) that described two additional species of Coleoscirus from Pakistan that I have been unable to obtain. Lin et al. (2003) reported Coleoscirus simplex from China. Fawzy (2007) described Coleoscirus zaherii . Bashir, Afzal, and Khan (2008) described Coleoscirus raviensis and Coleoscirus tobaensis . Bashir and Afzal (2009) described Coleoscirus afzali .

Diagnosis.

Gnathosoma. Pedipalps 5-segmented; basifemora and telofemora fused but retain a dark line which indicates the presence of the joint. Pedipalps extend beyond the subcapitulum by at most the apical half of the tibiotarsi. Pedipalp tibiotarsal tubercle plain, not bifurcate as in Scutascirus . Subcapitulum bears 6 pairs of setae: 2 pairs of adoral setae and 4 pairs of subcapitular setae (hg1 - 4).

Idiosoma, dorsal. Dorsal idiosoma heavily sclerotized and the plates well-demarcated. A single dorsal shield present; it may range in size from terminating anteriorly to cupule im to being holodorsal. No papillated line or other marking indicates the separation of the proterosomal and hysterosomal shields. 2 pairs of setae and 2 pairs of setose sensillae present on the proterosomal. Setae c1 - h1, c2, and f2 and cupule im present dorsally. Dorsolateral plates (such as present in Scutascirus ) absent.

Idiosoma, ventral. Coxae I-II fused and coalesce medially to form a sternal shield which often has a prominent apex caudally. Sternal plate complemented with 5-7 pairs of setae. Coxae III-IV fused and may extend laterally and caudally past the genital plates. Genital plates each bear 4 setae; 2 pairs of genital papillae visible underneath the plates. Anal plates bear two pairs of setae (ps1 and ps2). Seta h2 located ventrally near the anal plates. Cupule ih present in close proximity to h2. Legs shorter than the idiosoma, never constricted apically so as to end in lobes. The apices of solenidia, especially on tarsi I, may be swollen. Trichobothrium on leg tibia IV present. Ambulacral claws on either side of a four-rayed empodium present.

Males similar, except up to three shields or plates may occur on the dorsal idiosoma (that is the proterosomal shield may not be fused to a hysterosomal plate and up to two hysterosomal plates may be present) and coxae I-IV may be fused into a holoventral shield.

Key to adult female Coleoscirus

Coleoscirus brevicornis (Berlese) has been excluded from the key as the original publication ( Berlese 1904) and subsequent publication detailing the species ( Thor and Willmann 1941) are in Italian and German and the accompanying illustrations provide too little detail. Den Heyer (1978b) is the last author to mention the species, but only indicates that it belongs to the genus Coleoscirus .

Coleoscirus carex , Coleoscirus kifayati , and Coleoscirus mardi have been excluded from the key as the authors did not provide enough information in the original descriptions to include them.

Coleoscirus zaherii is not included in the key as, despite the best efforts of the authors and the University of Arkansas Interlibrary Loan Department, the description could not be obtained.

1	Basifemora I with 4 setae	2
-	Basifemora I with 5 setae	4
2 (1)	Basifemora II-IV setal formula 5-4-2	3
-	Basifemora II-IV setal formula 6-4-2; Pakistan	Coleoscirus trudus Bashir, Afzal & Khan, 2006
-	Basifemora II-IV setal formula 6-5-2; Pakistan	Coleoscirus afzali Bashir & Afzal, 2009
3 (2)	Telofemora I-IV setal formula 4-4-4-3; Pakistan	Coleoscirus baptus (Chaudhri, 1980)
-	Telofemora I-IV setal formula 4-5-4-3; Pakistan	Coleoscirus raviensis Bashir, Afzal & Khan, 2008
4 (1)	Basifemora II with 5 setae	5
-	Basifemora II with 6 setae	12
5 (4)	Basifemora III with 4 setae	6
-	Basifemora III with 5 setae	8
6 (5)	Basifemora IV with 2 setae	7
-	Basifemora IV with 3 setae; Java, South Africa	Coleoscirus halacaroides Berlese, 1916
7 (6)	Horizontal reticulations on dorsal shield present ( Fig. 70 ); Taiwan	Coleoscirus horidula (Tseng, 1980)
-	Horizontal reticulations on dorsal shield absent; Taiwan	Coleoscirus monospinosus (Tseng, 1980)
8 (5)	Basifemora I-IV setal formula 4-5-3-3; Argentina	Coleoscirus curtipalpus (Berlese, 1888)
-	Basifemora I-IV setal formula not as above	9
9 (8)	Sternal shield bilobed posteriorly; Philippines	Coleoscirus barrioni Corpuz-Raros, 1996
-	Sternal shield not bilobed posteriorly	10
10 (9)	Extensive reticulations on gnathosoma present ( Fig. 71 ); Philippines	Coleoscirus bakeri Corpuz-Raros, 1996
-	Extensive reticulations on gnathosoma absent	11
11 (10)	Hysterosomal shield present, complemented with c1 - f1, c2, f2; Philippines	Coleoscirus philippinensis Corpuz-Raros, 1996
-	Hysterosomal shield absent; Philippines	Coleoscirus intermedius Corpuz-Raros, 1996
12 (4)	Basifemora III with 4 setae	13
-	Basifemora III with 5 setae	17
-	Basifemora III with 6 setae	20
13 (12)	Telofemora I-IV setal formula 4-4-4-3; USA, South Africa, Japan	Coleoscirus simplex (Ewing, 1917)
-	Telofemora I-IV setal formula 5-5-4-3	14
14 (13)	Setae f1, f2 born on soft integument	15
-	Setae f1, f2 born on dorsal shield; Pakistan	Coleoscirus tobaensis Bashir, Afzal & Khan, 2008
15 (14)	Sternal plate rounded posteriomedially ( Figs 72a, b ); South Africa	Coleoscirus tuberculatus Den Heyer, 1978
-	Sternal plate truncated posteriomedially ( Fig. 72c )	16
16(15)	Light reticulation on dorsal shield present; dorsal shield evenly sclerotized ( Fig. 73a ); South Africa	Coleoscirus buartsus Den Heyer, 1980
-	Light reticulation on dorsal shield absent; dorsal shield unevenly sclerotized ( Fig. 73b ); South Africa	Coleoscirus coatesi Den Heyer, 1980
17(12)	Sternal shield indented posteriomedially ( Fig. 72a ); Malaysia	Coleoscirus mizunoi (Shiba, 1978)
-	Sternal shield not indented posteriomedially ( Fig. 72b )	18
18 (17)	Setae f2 born on soft integument; Pakistan	Coleoscirus disparis Muhammad & Chaudhri, 1992
-	Setae f2 born on dorsal shield	19
19 (18)	Integumental dots on legs I-IV forming rows ( Fig. 74a ); Pakistan	Coleoscirus carnus Muhammad & Chaudhri, 1992
-	Integumental dots on legs I-IV forming random ( Fig. 74b ); South Africa	Coleoscirus breslauensis Den Heyer, 1980
20 (12)	Basifemora IV with 2 setae; Philippines	Coleoscirus leytensis Corpuz-Raros, 1996
-	Basifemora IV with 3 setae; Philippines	Coleoscirus dayamilocus Corpuz-Raros, 1996

Figures

Figures 70 - 74. Coleoscirus key illustrations. 70 Dorsal idiosomal shield with horizontal reticulations present 71 Gnathosoma with extensive reticulations present 72 a Sternal plate rounded posteriomedially, indentation absent 72 b Sternal plate rounded posteriomedially, indentation present 72 c Sternal plate truncated posteriomedially 73 a Dorsal idiosomal shield even sclerotized, light reticulation present 73 b Dorsal idiosomal shield unevenly sclerotized, light reticulation absent 74 a Integumental dots on legs forming rows 74 b Integumental dots on legs random.