Ameroseius georgei (Turk, 1943)

Masan, Peter, 2017, A revision of the family Ameroseiidae (Acari, Mesostigmata), with some data on Slovak fauna, ZooKeys 704, pp. 1-228 : 1

Ameroseius georgei (Turk, 1943)

Plates 17 , 18

Epicrius canestrenii (sic). - George 1906: 264.

Epicrius canistrinii (sic). - George 1906: 266.

Epicrius canestrinii . - Turk 1943: 859.

Cornubia georgii (sic) Turk, 1943: 859 (nom. n. pro Epicrius canestrinii Haller, 1881 sensu George, 1906). Incorrect synonymy with Ameroseius corbiculus (Sowerby, 1806) by Turk 1953.

Ameroseius georgei . - Turk 1953: 12.

Ameroseius imparsetosus Westerboer (in Westerboer & Bernhard, 1963: 514). Syn. n.

Ameroseius imparsetosus . - Karg 1971a: 231; Bregetova 1977: 150; Karg 1993: 229; Kontschán 2007: 101.

Type depository.

Of Cornubia georgei - not stated; of Ameroseius imparsetosus - not stated.

Type locality and habitat.

Of Cornubia georgei - United Kingdom, England, Cornwall, habitat not stated; of Ameroseius imparsetosus - Spain, Sierra de Ancares Mountains, moss and bark of fallen and standing old oaks.

Comparative material.

United Kingdom: 2 ♀♀ (BMNH: E010147155, E010147156) - 1882, Ranmore, A. D. Michael Coll., R. z. 106-107, 1930.8.25.2204-2205 (originally labelled Acarina, Gamasidae , Epicrius ; secondary added: Cornubia georgii ) .

Published material from Slovakia.

Malé Karpaty Mts.: Častá Village, Červený Kameň Castle ( Mašán 2001b, cited as Ameroseius imparsetosus ).

New material from Slovakia.

Malé Karpaty Mts.: 2 ♀♀ - 10. 6. 2002, Bratislava Capital , zoological garden, oak-hornbeam forest ( Querco-Carpinetum ), individual collecting on wood-destroying fungus Trametes sp., altitude 180 m, leg. P. Mašán ; 1 ♀ - 22. 5. 2013, Bratislava Capital , Železná Studienka Forest, broad-leaved deciduous forest, individual collecting on unidentified wood-decaying fungi, altitude 270 m, leg. P. Mašán ; 10 ♀♀ - 20. 9. 2014, Borinka Village , broad-leaved deciduous forest, individual collecting on unidentified wood-decaying fungi, altitude 420 m, leg. P. Mašán. Podunajská Rovina Flatland : 1 ♀ - 21. 5. 1996, Bodiky Village , Kráľovská Lúka Forest, willow-poplar flood-plain forest ( Salici-Populetum ), leaf litter and soil detritus, altitude 120 m, leg. P. Mašán ; 123 ♀♀, 48 ♂♂ - 5. 5. 2013, Svaety Jur Town , Panónsky Háj Forest, oak forest ( Quercus spp.), rotting wood-destroying fungi Meripilus giganteus growing at base of old oak, altitude 130 m, leg. P. Mašán.

Remarks.

In his paper on the genus Epicrius from Lincolnshire in England, George (1906) re-described and illustrated three species of which two are now regarded to be members of Ameroseiidae . According to Evans (1955a), the species George believed to be Epicrius mollis (Kramer, 1876) is actually Epicriopsis horridus and what George identified as Epicrius canestrinii Haller, 1881 has formerly been given the new name Cornubia georgei by Turk (1943). Moreover, Turk (1943) proposed the new genus Cornubia with his new species Cornubia ornata as type species. Later, Turk (1953) regarded Cornubia as being synonymous with Ameroseius . At the same time, he synonymised the two apparently different species, originally included in Cornubia ( C. ornata and C. georgei ), with Ameroseius corbiculus . This interpretation is accepted here only in part because C. georgei is considered to be a distinct and reliably distinguishable species. Therefore, it is removed from a synonymy with A. corbiculus . George‘s original illustration in his paper (1906) is sufficiently detailed for the recognition of C. georgei . This species can be characterised as having dorsal setae extremely long (for example, j6 almost reaching posterior margin of idiosoma, and J2 reaching apparently beyond posterior margin of idiosoma). Ameroseius imparsetosus , based on a female from Spain and described by Westerboer (in Westerboer and Bernhard 1963), is in perfect agreement with what is reported by George (1906). A. georgei resembles also Ameroseius elegantissimus by Ishikawa (1984) from Japan. These two species can be easily distinguished by the number of elongate setae (11 pairs in A. georgei , only eight pairs in A. elegantissimus ).

I examined three slides (BMNH.E.010147154-56) of Michael Collection deposited at the Natural History Museum, London, each bearing a specimen originally labelled Epicrius and additionally specified as Cornubia georgii (sic). The specimen from Port Garrah (on the slide BMNH.E.010147154) labelled „nymph” is unsuitable for adequate study, and definitely not conspecific with those on the remaining two slides. Other two female specimens from Ranmore are identical to one another, in very good condition to be easily recognised as Ameroseius imparsetosus . Unfortunately, none of available slides bears a type designation and more specific collection data, but I believe that one female belongs to the authentic specimen of George (1906) because the original illustration of the dorsum with legs given by George (1906), for his Epicrius canistrinii (sic), match perfectly one of the two available mounted specimens (on slide E010147156). Based on the above mentioned circumstances, a new synonymy is established between C. georgei and A. imparsetosus in present study.

Figures

Plate 17. Ameroseius georgei, female, dorsal idiosoma (pressed specimen).

Plate 18. Ameroseius georgei, female, dorsal idiosoma.