Rotundabaloghia lindqvistiformis, Kontschán, Jenõ, 2008

Kontschán, Jenõ, 2008, Four new species of Rotundabaloghia Hirschmann, 1975 from East Africa (Acari: Uropodidae), Zootaxa 1853, pp. 18-30 : 23-25

Rotundabaloghia lindqvistiformis sp. nov.

( Figs 14–18 )

Material examined. Holotype. Female. Tanzania, South Pare Mts., in Same District, 2400–2462 m a.s.l., 19 May 1990, T. Pócs coll. Paratypes. 3 males, locality and date as for holotype.

Description. Female. Length of idiosoma 330 µm, width 310 µm (n=1). Shape oval, posterior margin rounded.

Dorsal idiosoma ( Fig. 14 ). Marginal and dorsal shields fused anteriorly. Marginal and dorsal shields without ornamentation. All dorsal setae long and setiform, their margins with short hairs.

Ve n t r a l idiosoma ( Fig. 15 ). Base of tritosternum narrow, laciniae with several spines on its margins. Sternal shield without ornamentation, all sternal setae short, smooth and needle-like. Pattern of ventral shield lacking, ventral setae longer than sternal setae, and smooth and setiform. Two pairs of ventral and adanal setae placed near posterior margin of ventral shield. Stigmata situated between coxae II and III. Peritreme hookshaped. Genital shield linguliform and without ornamentation or anterior process.

Gnathosoma ( Fig. 16 ). Internal malae long and smooth. Hypostomal setae are the follows: h1 long, smooth and setiform, h2 shorter than h1, setiform and with serrated margin, h3 longer than h2, setiform and with serrated margin, h4 as long as h2, setiform, with serrated margin. Labrum with long hairs on its apical part, and apical part of epistome with short hairs. Palp trochanter with two serrated setae, other setae of the palp smooth and simple. Chelicera as shown in Fig. 17 .

Male. Length of idiosoma 330–340 µm, width 310–270 µm (n=3). Shape oval, posterior margin rounded.

Dorsal idiosoma. Ornamentation and chaetotaxy of dorsal shield as for female.

Ve n t r a l idiosoma ( Fig. 18 ). Sternal shield without ornamentation. Sternal setae smooth, short and needlelike. Ventral setae similar to female. Genital shield of male oval and situated between coxae IV.

Gnathosoma . Not clearly visible (covered by coxae I).

Etymology. The name of the new species refers to the fact that it is very similar to the R. lindqvisti Hirschmann, 1992 .

Notes. As for the previous species, the dorsal, ventral and genital shields of the female lack ornamentation. All marginal and dorsal setae are long and setiform, and their margins have short pilosity. The genital shield of female is linguliform, without an anterior process. The adanal setae and two pairs ventral setae are placed near the posterior margin of ventral shield.

Rotundabaloghia splendida and R. lindqvistiformis belong to the woelkei species-group ( Hirschmann, 1992b). Their common characteristics are the absence of ornamentation on the ventral, genital and sternal shields. This group consists of the following East African species: R. nguruensis Hirschmann, 1992 , R. heterochaeta Kontschán, 2004 , R. africana Hirschmann, 1992 , R. splendida sp. nov., R. feherdii Kontschán, 2004 , R. lindqvisti Hirschmann, 1992 , R. lindqvistiformis sp. nov. and R. kimbozae Hirschmann, 1992 . The other members of this group occur in Borneo, South America and West Africa.

Three species from this group have ornamented genital shield in the females ( R. nguruensis , R. africana and R. heterochaeta ), and the apical part of genital shield of females is without a pointed apical part in R. feherdii . Similar to the new species ( R. splendida and R. lindqvistiformis ), only two species ( R. lindqvisti and R. kimbozae ) have linguliform genital shield with a pointed apical part and without ornamentation (the distinguishing characters are summarized in Table 1 ).

Figures

FIGURES 14 – 18. Rotundabaloghia lindqvistiformis sp. nov. 14. Female, dorsal shield; 15. Female, ventral idiosoma; 16: Female, gnathosoma; 17. Female, chelicera, 18. male, ventral idiosoma. Scale bar: a, 100 μm, b, 50 μm, c, 20 μm.