Tenuipalpus szarvasensis Bozai, 1970

Kontschan, Jeno & Ripka, Geza, 2018, A new species of Aegyptobia and redescription of Tenuipalpusszarvasensis Bozai, 1970 (Acari, Tenuipalpidae), ZooKeys 785, pp. 99-115 : 101-104

Tenuipalpus szarvasensis Bozai, 1970

Tenuipalpus szarvasensis Bozai, 1970: 367.

Tenuipalpus cheladzeae Gomelauri, 1960 as senior synonym of T. szarvasensis by Mitrofanov and Strunkova 1979: 51.

Tenuipalpus cheladzeae : Kontschán and Ripka 2017.

Material examined.

Holotype: female, HNHM Astig-242, Szarvas, 8 October 1968, from Picea excelsa Lk. No. 1250, Bozai, J. coll.

Diagnosis

(based on female). Anterior margin of prodorsal shield with forked projection; prodorsum smooth medially, with some striae laterally; anterolateral projections carrying setae sc2 weakly formed. Opisthosoma smooth anteriorly, with posteromedial reticulation and posterolateral longitudinal striation. Propodosomal setae as follows: v2 short and smooth, sc1 broad and obovate, sc2 long and phylliform. Opisthosomal setae: c1, c3 and d1 broad, long, oblanceolate, d3 short and oblanceolate, e1 short and smooth, h1, f1, f2 and e3 long, oblanceolate, h2 very long and smooth. Rostrum extending to middle of tibia I. Genital flap smooth. Intercoxal area between 3a and 4a smooth, 1a and 4a very long, 1b, 2b, 2c, 3a, 3b, 4b, ag, g1, g2 short. Legs with large, broad and phylliform, smooth and pilose setae.

Description

(female holotype). Colorization of idiosoma not observable in the holotype. Idiosoma (Figure 27) pentagonal in shape, body measured from v2 to h1 305; from tip of rostrum 350; width between setae sc2 190.

Dorsum (Figure 29): Anterior margin of prodorsal shield with paired projections, depth of notch 16. Prodorsum smooth medially, with some striae laterally; anterolateral projections carrying setae sc2 weakly formed. Opisthosoma smooth anteriorly, with posteromedial reticulation and posterolateral longitudinal striation. Propodosomal setae as follows: v2 short and smooth, sc1 broad and obovate, sc2 long and phylliform. Opisthosomal setae: c1, c3 and d1 broad, long, oblanceolate, d3 short and oblanceolate, e1 short and smooth, h1, f1, f2 and e3 long, oblanceolate, h2 very long and smooth. Rostrum extending to middle of tibia I. Opisthosomal pores between d1 and e1. Length of dorsal setae: v2 9-10, sc1 30-32, sc2 65, c1 45-46, c3 32-34, d1 38-40, d3 12-14, e1 12, e2 45-47, f2 and f3 45-46, h1 36-37, h2 105-110.

Venter (Figure 30): Very few striations observable in the holotype, only a few longitudinal striations visible posterior to g1-g2. Genital and anal plates smooth. Length of ventral setae, 1a 120-122, 3a 26-27, 4a 130-133, 1b 16, 2b 16-17, 3b 18-19, 4b 13, 1c and 2c 24-25, ag 12, g1-g2 14-16. Pseudanal setae, all 12-13. All ventral setae simple and smooth.

Gnathosoma: Rostrum extending to middle of tibia I; palp setal counts as in Figure 31.

Legs: Setal formula for leg I–IV (coxae to tarsi): 3-1-4-2-5-9, 2-1-4-2-4-9, 2-2-2-1-3-5, 2-1-1-0-3-5. Shape of the setae on legs illustrated on Figures 32-35.

Notes.

Bozai’s (1970) noted in his detailed description of Tenuipalpus szarvasensis , that the species is very similar to T. cheladzeae , but he mentioned some easy to observe differences (like shape and length of setae c1, d1) between these two species. Despite these known differences, Mitrofanov and Strunkova (1979) synonymized the name under Tenuipalpus cheladzeae . Mitrofanov and Strunkova (1979) did not study the type specimens of T. szarvasensis , therefore their opinion was questionable.

This year, we studied the types of Bozai’s T. szarvasensis in order to confirm Bozai’s hypothesis that T. szarvasensis differs from Gomelauri’s T. cheladzeae . The differences are presented in Table 3 and are illustrated in Figures 36, 37.

Tenuipalpus is the largest genus of flat mites, but very few are known from Pinaceae . Apart from the above-mentioned two species, the only other species is T. hondurensis Evans, in Evans et al. (1993) ( Mesa et al. 2009), which is considerably different from both the above species. Tenuipalpus cupressoides Smith, Meyer & Gerson, 1980 is very similar to T. szarvasensis , but the shape of v2 and e2 and the length of sc1, c1 and d1 are different. In addition, the host plant, Cupressus sempervirens of T. cupressoides belongs to the family Cupressaceae and not to Pinaceae ( Ueckermann et al. 2018).