Ololaelaps placentula (Berlese)

Laelaps placentula Berlese, 1887: 3 .

Laelaps placentula .— Berlese, 1892: 35.

Hypoaspis placentula .— Oudemans, 1902: 23; 1903: 129; Buitendijk, 1945: 296.

Laelaps (Hypoaspis) placentula .— Berlese, 1903: 14.

Ololaelaps placentula .— Berlese, 1904: 261; Hull, 1918: 66; Sellnick, 1940: 69; Bregetova & Koroleva, 1964: 70; Lapina, 1976: 58; Bregetova, 1977: 539; Ryke, 1962: 125; Evans & Till, 1966: 235.

Pseudoparasitus (Ololaelaps) placentulus .— Karg, 1978: 210; 1981: 211; 1993: 134.

Ololaelaps placentulus .— Farrier & Hennessey, 1993: 83.

Ololaelaps confinis Berlese, 1904: 261 (synonymy by Ryke, 1962: 125; Evans & Till, 1966: 235).

Laelaps (Ololaelaps) confinis .— Halbert, 1915: 70.

Ololaelaps confinis .— Hull, 1918: 66.

Specimens examined: Three females, Tanzania, Zanzibar, forest litter, 06°16'S, 039°25' E, 8 m. a.s.l., 2 February 2018, coll. S.G. Ermilov, A.A. Khaustov (in TUMZ).

Notes. This species may be easily recognised by the lateral fusion of the metapodal shields to the genitoventro-anal shield, but the posterior of peritrematal and exopodal shields behind coxa IV are usually free. Our concept of the species is based on that of Evans & Till (1966), and our specimens agree completely with Evans & Till (1966, Figure 52). We have presented an extensive synonymy of the species to emphasise that it is well-known under several different names, and very widely distributed in North America, Europe, and Russia. It is now recorded in Zanzibar for the first time, from soil and litter.