Pomerantzia benhami Price, 1974

Lotfollahi, Parisa, 2017, First record of the family Pomerantziidae (Acari: Trombidiformes) from Middle East, with recording of two species for the first time from Asia, Persian Journal of Acarology 6 (4), pp. 259-267 : 260-263

Pomerantzia benhami Price, 1974

Pomerantzia benhami Price, 1974: 425 ; Fan and Chen 2005: 8 , Table 2; Bochkov and Walter 2007: 159, 169.

Distribution and habitat – United States (California: from agricultural soil ( Price 1974); from agricultural soil at depth of 30.5–121.9 cm in the San Joaquin Valley, 22.9–249.8 cm in western Fresno County ( Price and Benham 1976).

Iranian Adult female ( Figs. 1–2 ) Gnathosoma – 84 long and 60 wide. Peritreme with 4 chambers, situated between cheliceral bases. Chelicerae 50 long, about 4× length of movable digits (12). Palp 75 long, palpfemur 40 long and 21 wide, longer than length of palptibia plus palptarsus, terminal palptibial claw strong, 12 long, accessory claw conical, 4 long; counts of setae and solenidia from palptrochaner to palptarsus: 0, 1, 1, 2 + 1 terminal claw + 1 accessory claw, 4 + 1ϖ+ 4 eupathidia. Subcapitular setae m 15 about as long as width of m–m (17), rostrum with 2 pairs of setae, ro1 7 and ro2 11.

Idiosoma – Weakly sclerotized, narrowly oval in shape, 355–370 long and 92–97 wide. Prodorsal shield reticulated at the center, remaining shields without ornamentation, striae between shields F and H narrow. All dorsal setae smooth. Prodorsal shield bearing 3 pairs of setae, ve 9– 12, sci 17–21 and sce 33–39; distances: ve–ve 15–18, ve–sci 39– 47, sci–sci 24–29, sci–sce 19 and sce –sce 54–62. Hysterosomal shield C longitudinally rectangular, with 1 pair of setae, c1 10–11, on its anterior half part; setae c2 20–34 obviously longer than other hysterosomal setae, situating on platelets posterior to c1; shields D and E, nearly square, each bearing 1 pair of setae, d1 10–16 and e1 10 –15; shield F nearly trapezoid, bearing 2 pairs of setae, f1 10–15 and f2 10–13, f2 widely spaced and on the same row of f1; shield H trapeziform, bearing 2 pairs of setae, h1 17–19 and h2 16–17, h2 obviously posterior to h1; distances c1–c1 30–32, c1–c2 27, d1–d1 27–29, e1– e1 28–29, f1–f1 17–19, f1–f2 14, h1–h1 8–13, h1–h2 13–16, h2–h2 13–14. Sejugal grove present. shields bearing setae 3a separated from coxae III. Aggenital valves bearing 4 pairs of setae, ag1 5– 6, ag2 6–7, ag3 5–6 and ag4 5–7. Genital valves bearing 5 pairs of setae, g1 5, g2 5, g3 5 and g4 5, g6 7–8. Pseudanal valves bearing 3 pairs of setae, ps3 9–10, ps2 10–11 and ps1 15–18. Legs I, II, III, IV about 203–230, 110–123, 110– 143, and 160–180, respectively. Counts of setae and solenidia on legs I– IV: coxae (including 1a, 2 a, 3a and 4a) 4+ 1 elcp, 4, 4, 4; trochanters 1, 1, 2, 1; basifemora 5, 4, 3, 3; telofemora 5, 5, 4, 5; genua 12 + 1K, 5, 5, 5; tibiae 12 + 3φ, 5 + 1φ, 5 + 1φ, 9 + 1φ; tarsi 19 + 7ϖ+ 18, 14 + 2ϖ, 11, 11 .

Material examined – One female from soil horizon II (18-41 cm depth) and one female, one deutonymph and one tritonymph from soil horizon III (41-90 cm depth) of wheat field, 38°26‘37.45''N, 45°53'55.39''E, 1399 m above sea level .

Comment – It is the first record of this species from Asia.

Remarks

The Iranian female specimens of P. benhami are quite similar to the original description and drawings made by Price (1974). The author was not able to directly compare Iranian specimen with the type series.

Figures

Figure 1. Pomerantzia benhami Price, 1974 – Dorsal (left) and ventral (right) view of body and dorsolateral view of the chelicerae (center).

Figure 2. Pomerantzia benhami Price, 1974 – A. Palp; B. Leg I; C. Leg II; D. Leg III; E. Leg IV.