Parasitus kempersi Oudemans, 1902

Murvanidze, Maka, Mumladze, Levan & Todria, Nino, 2019, A contribution to the knowledge of oribatid and mesostigmatic mites (Acari) with new records in Georgia, Persian Journal of Acarology 8 (4), pp. 309-325 : 316

Parasitus kempersi Oudemans, 1902

Syn.: Gamasus kempersi Oudemans, 1902

Diagnostic characters (female) – Measurements: 1100 × 550 μm. Body divided into two parts, cylindrical, with parallel sides, podonotal shield 550 μm and opisthonotal shield 560 μm long; tectum with three teeth of equal size, teeth are smooth, without further subdivision; dorsal setae z1 and r2 shorter than others 30 μm and 25 μm respectively, other dorsal setae long, 125–130 μm; setae al1 and al2 on palp genu spatulate, while setae al on palp femur divided into three parts; endogynium oval, granulated; sternal shield with net-like structure, st1 located out of the shield, all st setae 60 μm; genital setae 80 μm; nine pairs of ventrianal setae, two pairs of them short 25 μm, others longer 80 μm; leg I longer than the body 1275 μm. The species differs from other species of the same group [e.g. P. fimetorum (Berlese, 1904) , P. americanus Berlese, 1905 ] by undivided tips of the tectum ( Karg 1993).

Material – Leg: Goderdzi pass (Ajara) (N 41.63954 E 42.58273, 1700m a.s.l.) litter of coniferous forest ( Abies nordmaniana ), one female, coll. Mumladze, L., 24.09.2017 .

Distribution in Caucasus – New for the Caucasus. According to Tikhomirova (1977), the species is found everywhere in USSR except the Arctic, and coasts of Kaspian and Aral Seas, however, there is no direct information proofing the presence of P. kemperski in Caucasus until now.

Global Distribution – Holarctic ( Tikhomirova 1977; Nazari and Hajizadeh 2013).

Habitat – Mostly at sea costs ( Tikhomirova 1977; Bolger et al. 2018), we found the species in coniferous forest litter at high altitude.