Pseudopachys Berlese, 1916

MAŠÁN, PETER & HALLIDAY, BRUCE, 2014, Review of the mite family Pachylaelapidae (Acari: Mesostigmata), Zootaxa 3776 (1), pp. 1-66 : 44

Genus Pseudopachys Berlese, 1916

Pseudoparasitus (Pseudopachys) Berlese, 1916b: 165 .

Type species Pseudoparasitus (Pseudopachys) parasitizans Berlese, 1916 , by original designation.

Pseudopachyseiulus Moraza & Johnston, 1993: 263 . New synonymy.

Type species Pseudopachyseiulus ignacii Moraza & Johnston, 1993 , by original designation.

The genus Pseudopachys was proposed and briefly described by Berlese (1916b), as a subgenus of Pseudoparasitus Oudemans, 1902 , which is now classified in the Laelapidae . There are two slides of Pseudopachys parasitizans in the Berlese Acaroteca (and one vial, 39°/1917, which was not examined by us). One of the slides (181/43) is labelled Pseudopachys parasitizans , "tipico", from the European mole, Talpa europaea , Italy (Padova). This slide contains one male and one female, of which only the female is in relatively good condition for examination. Another slide (206/13) in the collection is labelled Pseudoparasitus (Pseudopachys) parasitizans , from moss, Italy (Tiarno-Trentino), and it bears one barely observable female. In addition, we have examined specimens of this species from south-eastern France (French Prealps, Vercors, Petit Veymont, Saint- Michel-les-Portes, 1,385 m a.s.l., August 26, 2007, leaf litter of beech forest, coll. Peter Fenďa).

Examination of the female specimen on slide 181/43 confirmed the conspecificity of Pseudoparasitus (Pseudopachys) parasitizans with Pseudopachyseiulus ignacii , which was originally found in Spain, and described in detail by Moraza & Johnston (1993). These two nominal species share following characters: (1) tarsus II with two hypertrophied distal setae al1 and pl1, located in characteristic opposed anterolateral and posterolateral positions; (2) holodorsal shield with more than 30 pairs of short, needle-like setae; (3) anterior margin of sternum with a pair of presternal plates; (4) sternal shield with convex posterior margin and three pairs of setae; (5) genitiventral shield constricted at the level of genital setae st5, bearing two pairs of setae (st5 and Jv1), and with posterior margin closely adjacent to anterior margin of subtriangular anal shield; (6) endopodal and exopodal platelets not fused, clearly separated between coxae II–IV; (7) parapodal platelets well developed behind coxae IV, widely rounded on posterior margin; (8) femur II with a small ventral tubercle; (9) separate small suboval metapodal platelets. Because Pseudoparasitus (Pseudopachys) parasitizans was designated as the type species of the genus Pseudopachys by Berlese (1916b) and Pseudopachyseiulus ignacii as the type species of the genus Pseudopachyseiulus by Moraza & Johnston (1993), Pseudopachyseiulus becomes a junior synonym of Pseudopachys .