Transeius Chant & McMurtry

Lofego, Antonio Carlos, Barbosa, Marina Ferraz De Camargo, Demite, Peterson Rodrigo & Moraes, Gilberto José De, 2024, Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) of the subfamily Amblyseiinae from Brazil, Zootaxa 5439 (1), pp. 1-306 : 77

Transeius Chant & McMurtry

Transeius Chant & McMurtry, 2004a: 181 .

Transeius .— Chant & McMurtry, 2007: 69.

Type species. Amblyseius bellottii Moraes & Mesa, 1988: 75 .

Main distinguishing characteristics. Dorsal shield usually mostly smooth; reticulate or areolate in some species. Idiosomal setal pattern 10A:9B/JV-3:ZV; setae s4, Z4 and Z5 (in some species also j3 or S2) distinctly longer than other setae in some species, z2 and (especially) z4 elongate, almost as long as or longer than distance to closest setae; ratio s4/S2 <2.7; S4 and S5 short/ minute, similar in length to Z1 and dorsocentral setae. Sternal shield usually longer than wide. Ventrianal shield varying from about vase-shaped (wider near Zv2) to pentagonal. Spermathecal calyx cup-, funnel-, trumpet-shaped or saccular; atrium not bifurcate/ vacuolate at juncture with major duct. Fixed and movable cheliceral digits with 2–12 and 0–4 teeth, respectively. Macrosetae present on leg IV, and usually also on other legs, always sharp-tipped. Male ventrianal shield usually with three pairs of pre-anal setae (occasionally four or six pairs); spermadactyl L-, Y- or wand-shaped.

Remarks. Six of the 63 species presently included in this genus have been reported from Brazil, five of which only in Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of the country. Only one species, T. bellottii , has been reported from western, central and southern Brazil. Worldwide, species of this genus have been reported most often from plants, more rarely in the soil and rarely in nests of birds and mammals as well as on moss.