Phytoptinae Murray, 1877

Chetverikov, Philipp E., Craemer, Charnie, Vishnyakov, Andrey E. & Sukhareva, Sogdiana I., 2014, CLSM anatomy of internal genitalia of Mackiella reclinata n. sp. and systematic remarks on eriophyoid mites from the tribe Mackiellini Keifer, 1946 (Eriophyoidea: Phytoptidae), Zootaxa 3860 (3), pp. 261-279 : 274

Subfamily Phytoptinae Murray, 1877

Incertae sedis. borasis Mohanasundaram, 1981

Previous assignment. Mackiella borasis Mohanasundaram, 1981

Host. Borassus flabellifer L. [ Arecaceae ]

Relation to host. In the folds of young tender leaves, symptom presence not recorded, probably absent or not apparent.

Distribution. Vriddhachalam, Tamil Nadu, INDIA.

Remarks. Mackiella borasis is mentioned in several previous publications ( Amrine & Stasny 1994; Amrine et al. 2003; Navia 2007) but does not conform to the diagnosis of Mackiella . This species has a vermiform body, with subequal annuli which are not differentiated dorso-ventrally. It thus does not conform to the diagnosis of either Sierraphytoptinae or Mackiellini. Morphologically, and particularly in body shape, it is similar to phytoptine mites. Therefore, the species borasis should be transferred to one of the currently recognized phytoptine genera namely Oziella, Acathrix or Phytoptus (Chetverikov 2014a) . Mites of these three genera differ in their external morphology, the anatomy of their internal genitalia and in their host-plant associations. Unfortunately, the species borasis was incompletely described and data on the internal genitalia is insufficient for precise analysis of this species. The type material of borasis is probably lost (Prof. K. Ramaraju [Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, INDIA], pers. comm. 9 July 2013). Therefore, new material needs to be recollected from the type locality, and neotypes should be designated. Thus, the generic assignment of the species “ borasis ” remains uncertain.