Masthermannia mammillaris

van der Hammen, L., 1959, Berlese's Primitive Oribatid Mites, Zoologische Verhandelingen 40, pp. 1-93 : 81-82

Masthermannia mammillaris (Berlese, 1904)

Angelia mammillaris Berlese , 1904a, p. 275.

Masthermannia mammillaris, Berlese , 1913, p. 100, pl. 8 fig. 92; Lombardini, 1936, p. 44

Posthermannia nematophora Grandjean , 1954c, p. 298, figs. 1-3.

The type of the species (slide no. 21/7) from Florence (Cascine) is still present in the Collection. The measurements are 0.480 X 0.210 mm, although Berlese recorded 0.400 X 0.200.

The specimen is covered with dirt, but I could establish that the apparent differences between P. nematophora and the figure of M. mammillaris are due to erroneous observations by Berlese. P. nematophora must therefore be placed in the synonymy of the last-mentioned species; it was described and figured in detail by Grandjean.

Apart from the type-specimen, there is a slide (no. 24/6) with a juvenile specimen from the Boboli Gardens in Florence, which Berlese labelled as nummularis ; in its present state the identity of the specimen appeared to be uncertain.

Further there are 9 slides (nos. 135/13-19, 140/1, 2) with specimens from Semarang, Java, regarded by Berlese as M. mammillaris ; although these show characters of the genus, they are too damaged to be identified with certainty. Nevertheless this record adds to our scarce knowledge of the distribution of the species of Masthermannia .