Brevipalpus rotai ( Castagnoli & Pegazzano 1979 )

Çobanoğlu, Sultan, Ueckermann, Edward Albert & Sağlam, Hayriye Didem, 2016, The Tenuipalpidae of Turkey, with a key to species (Acari: Trombidiformes), Zootaxa 4097 (2), pp. 151-186 : 166

Brevipalpus rotai ( Castagnoli & Pegazzano 1979)

( Figs 45–51)

Hystripalpus rotai Castagnoli & Pegazzano 1979: 285 .

Diagnosis. Dorsal opisthosomal setae f2 present. Dorsum rugose-reticulate medially and mostly smooth with well separated granules laterally. Dorsal body setae short, narrowly lanceolate and serrate. Venter smooth medially from setae 1b to ventral shield with reticulations and granules laterally. Setae 3a much shorter than 4a. Cuticle laterad and posterolaterad 4a with reticulation. Dorsal setae on femora I–III and genua I–II lanceolate and serrate. Trochanters I–IV with 1-1-1-0 setae. Spermatheca a long slender, coiling tube terminating in large, prominent hairy bulb.

Female. Dimensions. Length of body excluding gnathosoma 246; width 156, length of gnathosoma 83. Legs: I 130; II 130; III 116; IV 121. Setae: v2 6; sc1 16; sc2 11; c1 6; c3 9; d1 8; d3 10; e1 9; e3 9; f2 9; f3 10; h1 8; h2 8. Body oval.

Dorsum ( Fig. 45). Anterior projection of prodorsum with deep notches forming four lobes. Dorsum rugosereticulate medially and striate-granular laterally, with short transverse folds at e1-e1; dorsal body setae short, serrate and subequal in length.

Venter ( Figs 46–48 ). Venter smooth medially from setae 1a to ventral shield, with reticulations and granules laterally. Setae 4a much longer than 3a. Ventral, genital and anal shields mostly smooth, with some weak transverse striations; setae ag, g1-2, ps1–2 smooth; setae g2 inserted slightly anterior to g1. Spermatheca a long, slender, coiling tube terminating into large, prominent hairy bulb ( Fig. 47 ).

Gnathosoma ( Fig. 48 ). Tip of gnathosoma reaching anterior margin of genu I. Palp four-segmented; tarsus with one solenidion and two eupathidia; tibia with two setae; femur-genu with one; trochanter without setae.

Legs ( Figs 49–51 ) — Counts of setae and solenidia (included in counts) on podomeres of legs I–IV: coxae 2- 2-1-1, trochanters 1-1-1-0, femora 4-4-2-1, genua 3-3-1-1, tibiae 5-5-3-3, tarsi 9(ω)-9(ω)-5-5. Leg chaetotaxy as follows: trochanters I, II, III v’, IV nude; femora I–II d, v’, bv”, l’; femur III d, ev ’; femur IV ev ’; genua I–II l’, d, l”; III –IV l’; tibiae I–II d, l’, l”,v’, v”; III–IV d, v’, v”; tarsus I–II u’, u”, p’, p” tc’, tc”, ft’, ft”, ω; III–IV u’, u”, tc’, tc”, ft’. Dorsal setae on femora I–II and genua I–II narrowly lanceolate and serrate.

Remarks. Mesa et al. (2009) suspected that the three species B. dosis Chaudhri et al. (1974) , B. olearius Sayed 1950 and B. olivicola Castagnoli & Pegazzano 1979 were all junior synonyms of B. oleae Baker 1949 . However, Castagnoli & Pegazzano (1979) considered B. olearius , B. olivicola and B. oleae , and their new species, B. rotai , to all be separate true species based on the shape and/or position of the dorsal setae of the deutonymphs, and did not consider B. dosis . The adults of these four species are morphologically close in having similar dorsal ornamentation, shape and length of infracapitulum, anterior prodorsal projection, body setae and shape of spermatheca, except for minor variations. Castagnoli & Pegazzano (1979) also divided these four species into two groups based on the setal numbers on the trochanters— B. olivicola and B. oleae make one group with two setae on trochanter III (l’, v’ present) and one seta on trochanter IV (v’ present); and B. olearius and B. rotai represent the second group with one seta on trochanter III (v’ absent; l’ present) and trochanter IV without setae. We examined a female B. oleae specimen borrowed from the Smithsonian (USNM), and confirm that the trochanter formula is 1-1-2-1. Our Turkish specimen belongs to the B. olearius and B. rotai group, with the trochantal formula 1-1-1-0. Unfortunately we have only one female specimen and our decision to consider this specimen to be B. rotai as opposed to B. olearius , is based solely on the fact that the base of the anterior prodorsal projection is not smooth as it is in B. olearius . Confirmation of this will depend on the examination of more specimens of each of these species, especially immatures. This is a first report of this species for Turkey.

Material examined. 1 female from Olea europae L. ( Oleaceae ), Balıkesir, Turkey, 0 3 December 1999, Turkey, 0 3 December 1999 (Collector; S. Çobanoğlu. Deposited at University of Ankara).

Distribution. Crimea, Egypt, Greek, Italy, Morocco, Pakistan, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Tunisia and USA ( Meyer 1979; Hatzinikolis 1986b; Mesa et al. 2009).

Figures

FIGURES 46 – 48. Brevipalpus rotai (Castagnoli & Pegazzano). Female. 46. Venter view. 47. Spermatheca. 48. Palp.

FIGURES 49 – 51. Brevipalpus rotai (Castagnoli & Pegazzano). Female. 49. Leg I, left. 50. Leg III, left. 51. Leg IV, left.