Chiasmalges carolinensis, Mironov & Dabert & Ehrnsberger, 2005

Mironov, S. V., Dabert, J. & Ehrnsberger, R., 2005, Six new feather mite species (Acari: Astigmata) from the carolina parakeet Conuropsis carolinensis (Psittaciformes: Psittacidae), an extinct parrot of North America, Journal of Natural History 39 (24), pp. 2257-2278 : 2269-2271

Chiasmalges carolinensis sp. n.

( Figure 6 )

Type material

Male holotype ( ZISP BR 149-4 ) from Conuropsis carolinensis , immature, North America , before 1869, no other data. Holotype: ZISP (registration number ZISP BR 149-4 ).

Description

Male (holotype). Idiosomal length 465, width 285. Prodorsal shield as trapezium, posterior angles rounded, length along median line 133, greatest width 160, setae se separated by 150. Hysteronotal shield: anterior angles obliquely cut, greatest length (from anterior margin to level of setae h3 335, greatest width (at level of humeral shields) 223. Supranal concavity ovate. Inner margins of terminal cleft with rectangular ledge carrying setae ps1 and small spine, terminal lobar digit (apical part of lobe between levels of setae ps1 and h3) elongated, with knife-like terminal lamella. Total length of terminal cleft from anterior end to lobar apices (level of setae h3) 73, length of anterior part of the cleft (anterior end—setae ps1) 44; length of terminal lobar digit 33; width of terminal lobar digit 22, width of lobe at base 36; length of postero-lateral clefts of the lobe 47; length of lateral lobar digit along inner margin 29; length of terminal lamellae 28, width of lamellae at base 11 ( Figure 6A ). Distances between hysteronotal setae and setal rows: c2–d2 73, d2–e2 100, e2–f2 72, h3–h3 80, ps1–ps1 33.

Epimerites I fused as a Y and surrounded by ovate sclerotized area. Coxal fields II almost completely sclerotized, with narrow incision in sclerotized area along epimerites II. Aedeagus thin and long, extending to setae g, length from its anterior bend to apex 45 ( Figure 6B ). Distance between ventral hysterosomal setae and setal rows: g–g 15, 3a–4a 36, 3a–g 55, g–ps3 91. Adanal apodemes not fused at anterior ends. Length of antaxial spur of tibia III 13, length of paraxial spur 11; length of tarsus III 84. Legs III extending beyond the level of terminal membrane tips by almost whole tarsus III (about three-quarters). Tarsus IV with two dorsobasal spines ( Figure 6C ).

Female. Female unknown.

Differential diagnosis

The new species is most closely related to Chiasmalges polyplectrus described from Aratinga holochlora (Sclater, 1859) in Mexico ( Gaud and Atyeo 1967). The male of Ch. carolinensis sp. n. differs from that species by the following characters: legs III extends beyond the apices of terminal lamellae by distal three-quarters of tarsus and the aedeagus extends only to the genital setae g ( Figure 6A, B ). In males of Ch. polyplectrus , the legs III extend beyond the terminal lamella apices by whole tarsus III, and the aedeagus is much longer and extends to the anterior tips of adanal apodemes.

Etymology

The specific epithet derives from the specific name of the type host.

Remark on chaetotaxy

Among publications of authors dealing with descriptions of pandalurine mites, there is discordance in the chaetotaxy nomenclature for three pairs of setae situated on the lateral margins of opisthosomal lobes in males, f2, h2, ps2, because their homology to those in other representatives of Analgoidea is not completely clear ( Gaud and Atyeo 1967; Černy 1974; Faccini et al. 1976; Pérez and Ramirez 1996; Mironov 1997, 2004; Mironov and Pérez 2002). In the present paper, we follow the assignation of setal nomenclature originally used by Faccini et al. (1976).

XOLALGIDAE Dubinin, 1953 INGRASSIINAE Gaud and Atyeo, 1981 Protonyssus Trouessart, 1916

The genus is specific to parrots and currently includes only three described species, two of which are known from South America and one from the Philippines ( Trouessart 1885, 1916; Gaud and Atyeo 1981). Mites of the genus Protonyssus represent large-sized forms of the family Xolalgidae distributed on parrots.

Figures

Figure 6. Chiasmalges carolinensis sp. n., male. (A) Dorsal view; (B) ventral view; (C) tarsus IV.