Paragigagnathus philippei Kreiter, 2021

Kreiter, Serge, Payet, Rose-My, Abo-Shnaf, Reham & Douin, Martial, 2021, New Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) of Mascareignes and Comoros Archipelagos (Indian Ocean): one new record, three new species groups and description of six new species and of six unknown males, Acarologia 61 (4), pp. 845-889 : 848

Paragigagnathus philippei Kreiter n. sp.

Zoobank: 752EFED1-2498-4470-96FB-68C530C2C10E Classification. Paragigagnathus philippei Kreiter n. sp. belongs to:

• the subfamily Amblyseiinae Muma (absence of dorsolateral setae z3 and s6 and the caudoventral seta JV3),

• to the tribe Neoseiulini Chant & McMurtry (seta S4 present, ratio s4 / Z1 <3.0, setae s4, Z4 and Z5 not greatly longer than other dorsal setae, usually slightly sclerotized, never with wide sternal shield, seta J2 always present),

• to the genus Paragigagnathus Amitai & Grinberg (female ventrianal shield reduced and/or markedly wider at the level of anus, with a prominent waist, chelicerae with teeth only on apical region, fixed digit with one to three teeth, movable digit with a single tooth, primary metapodal plate or unguinal sigillum elongate ( Chant and McMurtry 2007). There are 12 species within this genus,

• Seta st3 is inserted off sternal shield of female on separate platelets (see below), which allows to classify this new species in the species group strunkhovae ( Chant and McMurtry 2003). This species group contains four species ( Chant and McMurtry 2003). The following list of characters of this new species is very different of all species of the genus and the species group. Despite the fact that we collected a single specimen, we consider this very original specimen as belonging to a new original species to science and we describe it thereafter.