Labidostoma integrum, Berlese, 1911

Bertrand, M., Bagheri, M., Akbari, A., Yazdanian, M., Irani-Nejad, K. H., Mohajer, S. S. & Saboori, A., 2012, A New Iranian Species Of The Subgenus Labidostoma (Prostigmata: Labidostomatidae), With New Biogeographic Data On The Integrum Species Group, Acarologia 52 (3), pp. 233-245 : 235

The integrum species-group: new insights thanks to a new species

The successive descriptions in the genus Labidostoma filled it gradually with species that could not be assigned to any other labidostomid genus ( Eunicolina , Akrostomma or Sellnickiella ). The subgenus Labidostoma is now overloaded with those species that share a regressive famulus on tarsi I: the Asian L. (L.) nepalense Feider and Vasiliu, 1968 , some South African species ( Bertrand and Theron, 1990) and some species from the Philippines (Bertrand and Corpus Raros, 1997). As a result, the subgenus Labidostoma (Labidostoma) looks like a ragbag.

Notwithstanding, the recent discovery, in Iran, of a third species sharing the major distinctive character of the L. (L.) integrum and L. (L.) caucasicum sheds light on some uncertainties and attests that some "hard nucleus" of closely allied species exists. The new Iranian species offers the opportunity to reconsider these heterogeneities. It was of interest to confront the Iranian individuals to specimens collected from Western and Eastern parts of the distribution area of the closest species L. (L.) integrum .