Cunaxa setirostris ( Hermann, 1804 ), 1826

Heyer, Jacob den, Ueckermann, Edward A. & Khanjani, Mohammad, 2011, Iranian Cunaxidae (Acari: Prostigmata: Bdelloidea): Part 2. Subfamily Cunaxinae, Journal of Natural History 45 (27 - 28), pp. 1667-1678 : 1668-1669

Cunaxa setirostris ( Hermann, 1804) .

( Figures 1–3 )

Scirus setirostris Hermann 1804, p.62 ; Voight (in Cuvier) 1836, p.444; Gervais 1841, p.6; Koch 1842, pp.76–77; Kramer 1877, p.254; Berlese 1887, f. 34; 1897, p.138; Hull 1918, p.37.

Cunaxa setirostris (Hermann) Von Heyden, 1826, p. 609 ; Thor and Willmann 1941, p.167; Baker and Hoffman 1948, p.237; Baker and Wharton 1952; p.193; Meyer and Ryke 1959, p.370; Muma 1960, p.324; Shiba 1969, p.108; Hughes 1976, p.258; Kuznetsov and Livshits 1979, p.51; Tseng 1980, p.256; Gupta and Ghosh 1980, p.194; den Heyer and Sergeyenko 2009, p.61 .

Material examined

One female, bark, Malard (Tehran), 21 December 2005, M. Kafi; one male, Medicago sativa , 15 September 1998, Bahadorbaik, Hamadan, M. Khanjani ; one female, soil, 7 July 2002, Dorcheh, Esfahān, M. Jalaeian ; one female, soil, 22 July 2002, Goldasht, Esfahān, M. Jalaeian ; two females, peach and two females, peach soil, 18 September 2003, Sanandaj, Kurdistan, M. Khanjani ; one female, soil under black cherry, 24 January 2004, Marivan-Saghez (45 km), Kurdistan, A. Azizi ; one female, soil, 13 August 2005, Jahrom, N.Khademi (CU 3); one female, soil, 30 June 2006, Malard (Tehran), M. Kafi .

Female ( Figures 1 , 2 ) (n = 10)

Dimensions and description. Idiosoma: length 333 (327–350); width 239(200–270); hypognathum: length 154 (142–169), width 83 (61–96); palp length 176 (146–200); chelicera length 137 (127–154); leg lengths: leg I 299 (277–315); leg II 276 (250–296); leg III 311 (285–335); leg IV 340 (285–370); sensillae lengths: vi 182 (166–200), sce 221 (212–250).

Leg IV longer than idiosoma. Pretarsi III and IV well demarcated. Integument heavily papillated; ventral and dorsal pattern for femora I in Figure 2E,F , respectively. Leg chaetotaxy ( Figure 2A–D ); differs from Crimean specimens only in number of tactile setae of tarsi III and IV, being 23 and 18, respectively, compared with 26 and 21 in the Crimean specimens.

Male ( Figures 2 , 3 ) (n = 1)

Dimensions and description. Idiosoma: length 230; width 176; hypognathum: length 122; width 68; palp length 130; chelicerae length 112 (111–113); leg lengths: leg I 243; leg II 243; leg III 222 (219–224); leg IV 265; sensillae lengths: vi 149, sce 171 (165–176).

Two smooth dorsal shields present, namely a propodosomal shield (with chaetotaxy as in females) as well as an hysterosomal shield ( Figure 2G–I ). Posterior edge of dorsal hysterosomal shield not clearly demarcated; therefore it is difficult to determine from this specimen how many dorsal setae it really carries. Latter bears at least setal pairs c1, c2, d1, e1. Sensillae sce slightly longer than vi ( Figure 2H,I ). Only five hysterogastral setae. Hypognathum ventrally less densily papillated than in female.

Leg chaetotaxy ( Figures 3A,B ) does not differ from that of the male Crimean specimens.

Remarks

Both sexes of this species have been elaborately described in a neotype designation / description by den Heyer and Sergeyenko (2009). One abberant female displayed four genital setae on the one genital valve whereas the other had only three.

Etymology

The species name setirostris has not been explained in the original description but the senior author assumes that the palpi of this species appeared to be setose: hence the species name.

Figures

Figure 1. Cunaxa setirostris (Hermann, 1804). Female: (A) dorsal view showing (B) seta vi, (C) seta sce; (D) ventral view; (E) palp; (F) hypognathum.

Figure 2. Cunaxa setirostris (Hermann, 1804). Female: (A) leg I; (B) leg II; (C) leg III; (D) leg IV; (E) ventral view femur I; (F) dorsal view femur I. Male: (G) dorsal view showing (H) seta sce and (I) seta vi; (J) ventral view.

Figure 3. Cunaxa setirostris (Hermann, 1804). Male: (A) leg I; (B) leg II. Cunaxa grobleri den Heyer, 1979. Female: (C) palp (Iran); (D) leg I (Iran); (E) leg I (South Africa). Male: (F) palp (Iran); (G) leg I (South Africa).