Atropacarus phyllophorus (Berlese) Kamill, B. W. & Baker, A. S., 1980

Kamill, B. W. & Baker, A. S., 1980, The genus Atropacarus Ewing (Acari: Cryptostigmata), Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Zoology series) 39, pp. 189-204 : 197-200

Atropacarus phyllophorus (Berlese) comb. nov. *

(Figs 20-26)

Hoploderma phyllophorum Berlese , 1904: 275; 1913: 103. Holotype, Florence, Italy (ISZA, Florence, no. 57/46).

Steganacarus phyllophorus : Schuster, 1957: 97; 1965: 218.

Steganacarus ropalus Feider & Suciu , 1957: 35. [Synonymized by Schuster, 1965: 218.]

*See footnote at bottom of p. 189:

[Since this manuscript went to press a paper has been published by Aoki (25 March. 1980. Bull. Inst. Sci. Technol, Yokohama 6(2): 1-88.) in which he separates Atropacarus from Steganacarus to include the species A. phyllophorus . A. serratus and A. striculus . Therefore, in the present paper Atropacarus phyllophorus is not a new combination.]

Aspis (Figs 23-24): 196-208 µm long and with a greatest width of 138-145 µm. All the dorsal setae are short, stout and brush-like distally. Setae (il) are about twice the length of setae (la) and together form a transverse row behind which the prodorsal integument is raised into a number of irregularly arranged longitudinal and transverse ridges. The sensillus is 97-111 µm in length and closely resembles that of A. striculus . In front of the il-la row there is a broad and rather pronounced median keel. The integument is sculptured in a reticulate pattern.

Notogaster (Figs 20-21): 376-446 µm in length and with a greatest depth of 198-238 µm. The notogastral chaetotaxy closely resembles that of A. striculus . There are 16 pairs of setae all of which are rather short (less than c1-d1), broadly spatulate, and serrated marginally. Setae c1-3 form a row submarginally on the cowl, the latter being separated from the rest of the notogaster by a deep furrow which extends dorsolaterally. The vestiges of setae f1 and f2 are present. The integument is sculptured in a reticulate pattern.

Ano-genital region (Fig. 22): The four pairs of anal setae (an1-4) are more or less equal in length and located marginally while a single pair of minute adanals (ad) are located submarginally and rather far forward. The integument of the anal plate is rugose. There are nine pairs of minute genital setae (g1-9) arranged in a pattern of 5+4 along the paraxial margins of the genital plates. A median longitudinal ridge with irregular thickenings separates a reticulate paraxial region from a rugose antiaxial region.

Legs (Figs 25-26): The chaetotaxy and solenidiotaxy of the legs follows the typical Atropacarus pattern. All the solenidia are long and straight. On tarsus I the seta coupled with solenidion omega2 is short and somewhat elongated distally. Seta a" is almost as long as the famulus and is located on a level with solenidion omega1. Setae (tc) and (u) on tarsus I and (tc), (u), (p) and s on tarsi II to IV are ribbon-like, hooked distally and bear whorls of sharply pointed spicules in the middle third.

Material: We have examined material collected in 1956 by Dr R. Schuster who recorded this species from oak litter in Vienna, and from heathland and Sesleria-grassland in Weiz, Austria.

Remarks: Although Berlese's (1904) original description of phyllophorus from specimens collected in rotting leaves, Boboli Gardens, Florence is extremely superficial, his figures (Berlese, 1913) show the characteristic features of the species: long sensillus serrated distally; spatulate notogastral setae; anterior cowl on notogaster; reticulate integument. Schuster's redescription of phyllophorus , based on material collected in Austria, is adequate although no information is available on the chaetotactic pattern of the legs.

The distribution of notogastral setae in A. phyllophorus is very similar to that shown for A. striculus . The additional seta is again located more or less mid-way between setae hx and ps, with vestigial f1 located anterodorsally. The diagnostic features of A. phyllophorus are the notogastral cowl bearing setae c1-3 and the strongly spatulate notogastral setae.