Scutomegninia (Scutomegninia) subantarctica Mironov, 2000

Han, Yeong-Deok, Mironov, Sergey V., Kim, Jeong-Hoon & Min, Gi-Sik, 2021, Feather mites (Acariformes, Astigmata) from marine birds of the Barton Peninsula (King George Island, Antarctica), with descriptions of two new species, ZooKeys 1061, pp. 109-130 : 109

Scutomegninia (Scutomegninia) subantarctica Mironov, 2000

Scutomegninia phalacrocoracis : Atyeo & Peterson 1967: 100, figs 5-8; 1970: 150, figs 68-70.

Scutomegninia subantarctica Mironov, 1990: 53, nom. nudum.

Scutomegninia (Scutomegninia) subantarctica : Mironov 2000: 14-18, fig. 5.

Material examined.

1 male and 3 females (NIBR No. NIBRIV0000887165-NIBRIV0000887168) from Leucocarbo bransfieldensis (Murphy) ( Suliformes , Phalacrocoracidae ), Antarctica, King George Island , Barton Peninsula, 62°14'4"S, 58°46'52"W), 8 January 2016, coll. Han Y.-D.

Remarks.

Mites of the genus Scutomegninia , collected from the Imperial Shag, Leucocarbo atriceps (King) (= Phalacrocorax atriceps ) in Maipo Island (Buls Bay on Brabant Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica) by Atyeo and Peterson (1967), were originally identified as S. phalacrocoracis (Dubinin and Dubinina, 1940). Furthermore, Atyeo and Peterson (1970) reported S. (S.) phalacrocoracis from Leucocarbo georgianus ( Lönnberg) (= P. atriceps georgianus ) from Bird Island, South Georgia. Later, Mironov (1990, 2000) described specimens from the Palmer Archipelago as a separate species, S. (S.) subantarctica . According to the present taxonomic view, Phalacrocorax atriceps belongs to the genus Leucocarbo and is split into several separate species restricted to particular areas of the Antarctic and subantarctic regions ( Gill et al. 2021). Taking into consideration this concept, S. (S.) subantarctica reported by previous researchers ( Atyeo and Peterson 1967, 1970) were collected from the Antarctic Shag, L. bransfieldensis (Antarctic Peninsula and Palmer Archipelago), and the South Georgia Shag, L. georgianus (South Georgia).

Scutomegninia (S.) subantarctica belongs to the Scutomegninia phalacrocoracis group (species associated with Phalacrocoracidae and Anhingidae ), and it is most similar to S. (S.) pygmaea Mironov, 1990. It differs from S. (S.) pygmaea and other species of the Scutomegninia phalacrocoracis group by the following combination of characters in males: the terminal ends of the interlobar membrane have a small spine-like process; the lateral adanal shields have acute posterior ends, while the medial adanal shields have the posterior ends bluntly rounded; the anteromedial ends of adanal apodemes are rounded; setae s of tarsus III are spine-like, strongly attenuate apically, and bear two small denticles; the terminal cleft is 1.8-2 times longer than wide; and the incision in the interlobar membrane extends to the level of setae h2 ( Mironov 1990, 2000).

Molecular data.

The COI sequences were obtained from two individuals and deposited in GenBank with accession numbers MZ489643 and MZ489644.