Alliphis necrophilus Christie, 1983

Mašán, Peter & Halliday, Bruce, 2010, Review of the European genera of Eviphididae (Acari: Mesostigmata) and the species occurring in Slovakia 2585, Zootaxa 2585, pp. 1-122 : 30-32

Alliphis necrophilus Christie

( Figs 15, 16, 81, 82, 88, 91, 95 and 100)

Alliphis necrophilus Christie, 1983: 232 ; Mašán, 1994a: 7; Takaku et al., 1994: 306; Ma, 1996: 54; Schwarz et al. 1998: 162; Makarova, 1998: 115; Mašán, 1999: 517.

Alliphis yinchuanensis Gu & Bai, 1997: 249 . New synonymy.

Alliphis brevisternalis Ma & Wang, 1998: 12 . New synonymy.

Diagnosis (adults). Dorsal idiosoma ( Fig. 15). Dorsal shield suboval, relatively wide, 410–525 µm long and 280–380 µm wide in females, 340–500 µm long and 230–305 µm wide in males, distinctly reticulated only in marginal areas. Dorsal setae relatively short, subequal in length; in females: j1 13–19 µm, j2 18–21 µm, j3 20– 25 µm, j4 19–23 µm, j5 17–19 µm, J3 14–19 µm, J5 11–13 µm, Z5 13–20 µm.

Ventral idiosoma ( Fig. 16). Presternal platelets present. Sternal shield approximately as wide as long, 98– 124 µm long and 90–120 µm wide, smooth; first pair of sternal pores slit-like, oriented obliquely. Epigynal shield 47–72 µm wide. Post-genital sclerites absent. Anal shield slightly wider than long, 63–89 µm long and 76–101 µm wide, subtriangular, with rounded anterior margin and smooth surface. Opisthogastric integument with two pairs of elongated metapodal platelets, anterior pair minute. Peritrematal shields relatively narrow, developed along the whole peritreme, smooth, without specific sculptural ornamentation on surface; post-stigmatic section tapered posteriorly ( Fig. 91); peritremes slightly shortened, anterior ends not reaching paravertical seta z1. Dorsolateral and opisthogastric integument with ten pairs of setae in female, seven to nine pairs in males. In male, sterno-genital shield 144–216 µm long; anal shield subtriangular but variable in shape, 64–88 µm long and 72–100 µm wide, bearing three circum-anal setae; in irregularly shaped forms, anal shield about 112 µm long and 120 µm wide, sometimes bearing some of the ventral setae.

Gnathosoma . Cheliceral dentition typical for genus ( Figs 88, 95). Epistome with elongated central projection; lateral wing-like elements poorly developed, sloping, densely serrated on anterior margin ( Fig. 100).

Legs. Chaetotaxy of leg segments typical for genus ( Table 3). Femora II and IV of male each with a robust spur-like seta ( Figs 81, 82), or the spur sometimes absent on femur IV.

Remarks. Alliphis yinchuanensis Gu & Bai 1997 and A. brevisternalis Ma & Wang 1998 are here regarded as synonymous with A. necrophilus . The authors of the original descriptions did not compare their new species with A. necrophilus , and all of the differential characters for their new species were well within the range of variation of A. necrophilus . Both were collected from silphid beetles or mammalian carrion, typical habitats for A. necrophilus .

Alliphis necrophilus is a necrophilous species specifically associated with burying beetles of the genus Nicrophorus , i.e. cadavericolous species occurring in decayed animal tissues in various degree of decomposition, most abundant on larger cadavers. It has also been found on cadavers of small mammals attacked by burying beetles. It is a Palaearctic mite found in associations with the following Nicrophorus species : N. humator and N. vespillo in Slovakia, Poland and China ( Mašán 1994a; Ma 1996; Haitlinger 2004), N. vespilloides in Scotland ( Christie 1983), N. maculifrons and N. quadripunctatus in Japan ( Takaku et al. 1994), and N. japonicus in China ( Gu & Bai 1997). Haitlinger (2004) reported this species occasionally also from other beetles, viz. Oiceoptoma thoracica , Silpha obscura (Silphidae) , and Trichodes apiarius (Cleridae) .

Occurrence in Slovakia. (a) Verified published data. Borská Nížina Lowland: Malé Leváre [7467]; Vysoká Pri Morave [7667] ( Mašán 1994a, 1999).

(b) New data. Nízke Tatry Mts.: 2 ♀♀, 18 August 1997, Liptovská Osada [7081] .