Cunaxa corpuzrarosae, Kalúz & Starý, 2018

Kalúz, Stanislav & Starý, Josef, 2018, Two new species of the family Cunaxidae (Acari: Prostigmata) from Madagascar, Zootaxa 4378 (4), pp. 549-562 : 556-561

Cunaxa corpuzrarosae sp. nov.

( Figs 7–12 )

Diagnosis (female). Hysterodorsal setae short, smooth, hysterosomal median plate absent. Palpal femur with a short and straight (not uncinated) telofemoral apophysis, and with short palpal tibiotarsal setae. Venter with 4 pairs of sts between coxae IV and genital region; 3 sts and 1 sts present on basifemora III and IV, respectively.

Description (female). Measurements. Body length 406 [339–490], width 284 [236–354], 5 specimens measured.

Dorsum ( Fig. 7 ): Propodosoma with finely punctate subrectangular shield, cone–shaped distally. Propodosomal shield reaching to anterior region of hysterosoma, bearing a pair of anterior (vi) and posterior (sce) setose trichobothria and also two pairs of tactile setae (ve, sci). Anterior trichobothrium 325 [296–396], posterior trichobothrium 381 [362–387] long, distance between bases of vi–vi and sce–sce 37 [36–38] and 168 [159–176], respectively. Propodosoma separated from hysterosoma by fine striae. Hysterosoma covered with fine striae, without hysterosomal shields or platelets. Six pairs of tactile dorsal setae present on hysterosoma; c2, c1–h1. Length of setae c1 53 [48–58], c2 56 [53–60], d1 46 [39–55], e1 47 [41–54], f1 70 [62–78] and h1 58 [53–62]. Distance between bases of setae c1–c1 120 [107–134] about one and half times length of c1; d1–d1 120 [114–132] about two and half times length of d1; e1–e1 97 [78–114] about two times longer e1; f1– f1 132 [125–139], two times more than length of f1; h1–h1 25 [21–28] two–three times less than length of h1, cupule im present.

Venter ( Fig. 8 ). Coxal plates weakly sclerotized, coxae I–II and III–IV contiguous and finely striate. Setal formula of coxae I–IV: 3–1–3–2 sts. Venter of hysterosoma ( Fig. 8 ) with a pair of simple centro–medial setae 15 [14–16] between coxae III on longitudinally striated integument, and with 3 pairs of hysterogastral setae [18–19] on transversally striated integument arranged anteriorly to genital plates. Two pairs of genital papillae and four pairs of simple setae on weakly sclerotized genital plates, setae nearly equal in length: g1 20 [18–21]; g2 21 [18–23]; g3 20 [18–21]; g4 23 [22–23] (from anterior to posterior, respectively) and two pairs of adjacent ps setae; ps2 21 [20– 21], ps1 14 [14–16], close to anal plates.

Gnathosoma ( Figs 9–11 ). Five–segmented palp 405 [370–437] long with palpal tibiotarsus apically curved. Palp with gently punctate surface and bare tibiotarsus. Palpal chaetotaxy as follows: trochanter—bare, basifemur 60 [59–63]—1 dorso–medial simple seta 7 [6–9 long]; inner surface of telofemur 44 [40–46] with 1 latero–medial apophysis 9 [8–10], dorso–distal seta 11 [10–14]; inner ventral surface of genu 47 [45–48] with 1 latero–distal spine–like seta 15 [14–16], dorsally with 1 medio–distal spine–like seta 15 [14–16]; tibiotarsus 82 [80–88] inner surface with 1 simple proximal seta 24 [23–25] and medially with 1 stout spine–like seta 17 [16–18]; outer surface with 1 dorso–medial simple seta 10 [9–13]; medio–lateral simple seta 19 [16–21] dorso–distal solenidion 8 [7–8] and terminating with small short claw.

Chelicera. Slender and 131 [156–169] long, cheliceral segment I as well as the proximal part of segment II with fine punctation, a pair of distal setae 9 [8–9] present.

Subcapitulum ( Fig. 9 ). Subrectangular, distally cone–shaped with two pairs of short adoral setae and four pairs of hypognathal setae (hg). Setae hg4 70 [66–74] long, about two times longer than hg2 36 [34–38], three times longer than hg1 24 [22–24] and about two times longer than hg3 31 [27–36]. Coxal region of subcapitulum finely punctate.

Legs ( Fig. 12 ). All legs with fine punctation, legs I–III shorter than leg IV. Chaetotaxy I–IV (excluding coxae) as follows: trochanters 1–1–1–1 sts; basifemora 4–4–3–1 sts; telofemora 4–4–4–4 sts; genu I—2 asl, 1 mst, 5 sts; genu II 1 asl, 5 sts; genu III—1 asl, 5 sts; genu IV—5 sts; tibia I—2 asl, 1 mst, 5 sts; tibia II—(1 asl, 1 ms), 5 sts; tibia III—1 asl, 4 sts; tibia IV, 1 smooth T, 4 sts; tarsus I—3 asl, 22 sts, pretarsus with 1 dorsal and 1 ventral sts on each lobe; tarsus II—1 bsl, 16 sts, pretarsus with 1 dorsal and 1 ventral sts on each lobe; tarsus III –14 sts, pretarsus with 1 dorsal and 1 ventral sts on each lobe; tarsus IV—12 sts, pretarsus with 1 dorsal and 1 ventral sts on each lobe. Length of leg segments I – IV (coxa and trochanter not measured): basifemur 86 [80–90]–80 [78–86]–75 [71–78]–79 [73–89]; telofemur 40 [39–46] – 39 [36–46] – 50 [41–54] – 51 [48–54]; genu 38 [34–41] – 32 [31–32] – 38 [34–42] – 53 [49–55]; tibia 41 [37–46] – 43 [37–46] – 55 [54–56] – 62 [54–68]; tarsus 168 [162–175] – 150 [145–156] – 150 [142–158] – 150 [140–159], respectively.

Male and developmental stages: Unknown.

Material examined. Locus typicus: Madagascar, Ranomafana National Park, Ambatolahidimy, 21°15'40.4”, 47°25'14.5”, evergreen rain forest, 994 m, 27.IX.2012, female on slide, leg. L.S. Rahanitriniaina ; Madagascar, Ranomafana National Park , Ambatolahidimy, 21°15'40.4”, 47°25'16.5”, evergreen rain forest, 1017 m, 27.IX.2012, female on slide, leg. L.S. Rahanitriniaina ; Madagascar, Ranomafana National Park , 21°14'57.2”, 47°25'14.7”, evergreen rain forest, 1038 m, 29.IX.2012, 2 females on slides, leg. L.S. Rahanitriniaina ; Madagascar, Ranomafana National Park , 21°15'39.3”, 47°25'19.1”, evergreen rain forest, 970 m, 28.IX.2012, female on slide, leg. L.S. Rahanitriniaina ; Madagascar, Ranomafana National Park , Vatoharanana, 21°17'33.6”, 47°25'57.6”, evergreen rain forest, 1163 m, 4.X.2012, female on slide, leg. L.S. Rahanitriniaina.

Type deposition. The holotype is deposited in the collections at NHMG; two paratypes at SNMB; one paratype at SMG, and one paratypes at ISB.

Etymology. The new species is named in honour of Prof. Dr. Leonila A. Corpuz-Raros ( Philippines) for her valuable contribution in taxonomy of Cunaxidae .

Remarks. The new species Cunaxa corpuzrarosae sp. nov. is similar to the related species C. potchensis Den Heyer, 1979 , C. mageei Smiley, 1992 and C. neogazella Smiley, 1992 by having basifemora III with 3 sts, basifemora IV with 1 sts, missing median plate and straight (not uncinated) telofemoral palpal apophysis. C. corpuzrarosae sp. nov. differs from C. potchensis by having 4 pairs of sts between coxae IV and the genital region and a short stout palpal femoral apophysis (5 pairs of sts in C. potchensis and long thin palpal femoral apophysis). C. corpuzrarosae sp. nov. differs from C. mageei by having much shorter hysterodorsal setae (two times longer in C. mageei ), and from C. neogazella by having much shorter hysterodorsal and also palpal tibiotarsal setae (both these setae are two times longer in C. neogazella ).

Figures

FIGURE7. Cunaxa corpuzrarosae sp. nov.—female; idiosoma (dorsal view).

FIGURE8. Cunaxa corpuzrarosae sp. nov.—female; idiosoma (ventral view).

FIGURES 9–11. Cunaxa corpuzrarosae sp. nov.—female: (9) palp (ventral view); (10) subcapitulum (ventral view); (11) chelicera (dorsal view).

FIGURE12. Cunaxa corpuzrarosae sp. nov.—female; legs I–IV (from left,dorsal view).