Research Article |
Corresponding author: Jenő Kontschán ( kontschan.jeno@agrar.mta.hu ) Academic editor: Farid Faraji
© 2015 Jenő Kontschán.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Kontschán J (2015) Sumatrella chelonica gen. n., sp. n., a new remarkable genus and species from Indonesia, Sumatra (Acari, Uropodina, Oplitidae). ZooKeys 484: 1-10. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.484.8836
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A new genus Sumatrella gen. n. is described and illustrated based on the new species Sumatrella chelonica sp. n. collected in Sumatra, Indonesia. The new genus belongs to the family Oplitidae based on its hypertrichous internal malae and the absence of strongly sclerotized structures on the dorsal shield. The new genus is closely related to the genus Chelonuropoda Sellnick, 1954 but the transverse furrow on ventral idiosoma close to coxae IV and the strongly sclerotized C-shaped dorsal line are missing in the new genus. These characters can be found in species of Chelonuropoda.
South-East Asia, taxonomy, turtle mites
The Uropodina mites are one of the well-characterized members of the soil mite fauna. They can be found with a high diversity in tropical regions (
The family Oplitidae (
In 2014, some days were spent in the Arachnida collection of Natural History Museum in Geneva, where I found several specimens of a very unusual oplitid species, described here as a new genus and new species.
Specimens of this unusual species were cleared in lactic acid, investigated on half-covered deep slides and illustrations were made with the aid of a drawing tube. Photographs were taken with a Nikon CoolPix900 digital camera. All specimens are stored in ethanol and deposited in the Natural History Museum in Geneva (NHMG). All measurements are given in micrometres (μm).
Idiosoma small, oval, posterior margin rounded and very convex. All part of marginal shield wide and fused anteriorly to dorsal shield. Dorsal and ventral setae smooth and needle-like. Genital shield of female octagonal, without sculptural pattern and anterior process. Dorsal and marginal shields neotrichous. Corniculi horn-like, internal malae with several long branches. Hypostomal setae h3 longer than others, h2 situated outside the longitudinal row h1–h4 and shorter than others. Tritosternum with narrow basis, laciniae divided into two short and two long pilose branches. Epistome hemispherical and marginally pilose. Leg I without claw, trochanters II-IV with a triangular process.
Sumatrella chelonica sp. n.
The name of the new genus refers to the name of island where the specimens were collected. Gender feminine.
On the basis of the shape of internal malae (divided into pilose branches), the absence of the T-shaped dorsal setae and the hypostomal setae h2 position lateral to row h1–h4, I refer this genus to Oplitidae. Recently several genera and species groups have been recognized in this family (
The distinguishing characteristics between Chelonuropoda Sellnick, 1954 and Sumatrella gen. n.
Chelonuropoda | Sumatrella | |
---|---|---|
Length of idiosoma | 1000< | 600> |
Width of marginal shield | only on anterior area | on all area |
C-shaped strongly sclerotized dorsal lines | present | absent |
Transverse furrow near coxae IV on ventral idiosoma | present | absent |
Shape of female genital shield | linguliform | octagonal |
Shape of peritreme | long, hook-like, mushroom-like or R-shaped | short, C-shaped |
Epistome | triangular | hemispherical |
Triangular process on trochanters of legs II–IV | absent | present |
Claws on leg I | present | absent |
Holotype. Female. Indonesia, Sumatra, West Sumatra Province, primary forest at buttom of Haran Canyon, near Echo Point, N of Pavakumbah, 0°06'21"S, 100°39'50"E, 500m, 8.VI.2006. leg. A. Schulz. Paratypes. Three females from Indonesia, Sumatra, West Sumatra Province, primary forest at buttom of Haran Canyon, near Echo Point, N of Pavakumbah, 0°06'21"S, 100°39'50"E, 500m, 8.VI.2006. leg. A. Schulz and 7 females from Indonesia, Sumatra, West Sumatra Province, distributed primary forest near road Lubuksikaping Bonjol, ca. 10 km S of Lubuksikaping, 0°03'16"N, 100°12'33"E, 500m, 12.VI.2006. leg. A. Schulz.
As for the genus.
Length of idiosoma 560–580 µm, width 470–510 µm, height 560–570 µm (n=11). Shape oval, posterior margin rounded and dorsally extremely domed (Figs
Dorsal idiosoma (Figure
Sumatrella chelonica gen. n., sp. n., female, holotype: 1 body in dorsal view 2 setae on dorsal shield 3 setae on marginal shield 4 body in lateral view. Scale bars in micrometers.
Ventral idiosoma (Figure
Sumatrella chelonica gen. n., sp. n., female, holotype: 5 body in ventral view 6 anal and ventral regions 7 intercoxal area 8 peritreme. Scale bars in micrometers.
Gnathosoma (Figure
Sumatrella chelonica gen. n., sp. n., female, holotype: 9 ventral view of tritosternum, gnathosoma and coxae I 10 epistome 11 chelicerae. Scale bars in micrometers.
All setae on palp smooth and needle-like (Figure
Sumatrella chelonica gen. n., sp. n., female, holotype: 12 ventral view of palp 13 ventral view of leg I 14 ventral view of leg II 15 ventral view of leg III 16 ventral view of leg IV. Scale bars in micrometers.
Legs (Figures
Photos about Sumatrella chelonica gen. n., sp. n., female: 17 body in lateral view in holotype 18 bodies in lateral, ventral and dorsal views in paratypes 19 marginal shield and setae in holotype 20 bodies in ventral view of paratypes 21 body in ventral view of holotype III 22 triangular processes on trochanters of legs II-III in holotype (arrows show the processes).
Male, nymph and larva are unknown.
The name of the new species refers to the raised shape of the mite body which is reminiscent of a turtle.
Species of the probably closely related genus Chelonuropoda Sellnick, 1954 occur in South America and the Afrotropical region; a distribution pattern which has been named ‘Amphiatlantic’ (
I am very grateful to Dr. Peter Schwendinger for his kind hospitality during my study in Geneva. I would like to thank to Dr. Jason Dunlop for his linguistic revision.