Alliphis Halbert, 1923

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 : 24-25

Genus Alliphis Halbert

Alliphis Halbert, 1923: 369 . Type species Gamasus halleri G. & R. Canestrini, 1881, by monotypy.

Diagnosis (adults). Dorsal idiosoma ( Figs 11, 13, 15, 17). Idiosoma dorso-ventrally flattened. Dorsal shield entire, suboval, almost completely covering dorsal idiosoma, never expanded ventrally, with simple rounded vertex, with fine reticulation at least on marginal area of shield. Dorsal shield with 30 pairs of subequal, uniform, needle-like setae, only j1 sometimes slightly thickened, lanceolate; j1 and z 1 in dorsal position on vertex. Sexual dimorphism of dorsal chaetotaxy absent. Some dorsal pore-like structures conspicuous, hypertrophied, elongate.

Ventral idiosoma ( Figs 12, 14, 16, 18). Presternal platelets present, small, paired, weakly sclerotised and transversely striate. Ventral shields with weak sculptural ornamentation on surface. Sternal shield well sclerotised, with three pairs of setae and two pairs of lyrifissures, first pair small, oriented obliquely to longitudinal axis. Endopodal platelets II–III completely fused to sternal shield. Endopodal platelets III–IV free in soft integument. Metasternal platelets present, very small, each bearing metasternal seta st4 and adjacent pore. Epigynal shield with a pair of genital setae situated submedially, genital pores located in soft integument; post-genital sclerites present or absent. Anal shield usually subtriangular, with three subequal circum-anal setae. Exopodal platelets I–IV usually present, narrow and curved. Metapodal platelets present. Peritrematal shields well developed along whole length of peritreme, with anterior section fused to dorsal shield ( Fig. 40) but not formed into a conspicuous arch-like ventral structure below vertex; peritremes long, anterior ends reaching at least to coxae I; post-stigmatic section of peritrematal shields short, not reaching beyond posterior margin of coxae IV. Dorsolateral and opisthogastric integument simply striated, with ten pairs of setae in female and nine pairs in male. In male, separate sterno-genital and anal shields present.

Gnathosoma . Palptarsus without paired macroeupathidia. Movable digit of chelicera with one robust subdistal tooth ( Figs 83, 95). Spermatodactyl short and simple ( Figs 84, 88). Epistome with elongate central projection and wing-like lateral elements usually densely serrated on distal margin ( Figs 46, 98–100).

Legs. Chaetotaxy of legs I-II-III-IV: coxae 2-2-2-1, trochanters 6-5-5-5, femora 13-11-6-6, genua 11-11-8- 7 and tibiae 11-10-7-7 ( Table 3). Femur II and IV of male sometimes with one robust spur ( Figs 42, 43, 81, 82).

Notes on the genus. The genus Alliphis needs a thorough revision, because some of its species appear to be synonyms, and others may be better placed in other genera. Some species are known only from the immature stages, and the descriptions of others are not sufficiently detailed. Mašán & Halliday (2009a) attempted to clarify the concept of the genus Alliphis by removing some species that obviously belong in other genera. Alliphis sculpturatus Karg 1963 was designated as the type species of the new genus Pseudoalliphis , and Iphidosoma pratensis Karg 1965 , which was transferred into Alliphis by Kethley (1983), was made the type species of Alloseius . In this paper we refine the concept of Alliphis further, by recognising that some deutonymphs and males that were previously placed in Alliphis are actually synonyms of Alloseius pratensis . The process of clarifying the genus Alliphis is not complete and should continue, especially with detailed study of species from outside Europe.

The strongest features that define the genus Alliphis are: (1) dorsal shield setae j1 lanceolate, with acuminate tips; (2) dorsal shield setae short, subequal and uniform in length; (3) anterior dorsal shield simple, not expanded ventrally beyond the vertex, with setae j1 and z1 positioned dorsally; (4) peritrematal shields not connected with each other to form an arch-shaped ventral extension of the vertex; (5) peritrematal shields fused to anterolateral parts of dorsal shield; (6) dorsal shield at most with delicate reticulate sculpture on surface, without coarse punctate-reticulate pattern; (7) cuticular integument smooth or simply striated, without additional sculptural ornamentation and sclerotised structures; (8) presternal platelets present; (9) first pair of sternal pores small, slit-like and oriented oblique to longitudinal axis; (10) metasternal platelets present, each bearing an associated seta and pore; (11) endopodal platelets II–III completely fused to sternal shield; (12) exopodal platelets present; (13) movable cheliceral digit unidentate, fixed digit without hyaline appendage.

The males of some species of Alliphis have robust spur-like seta on femur II and IV, slightly reduced peritrematal shields, slightly shortened pre-stigmatic sections of the peritremes, and roof-shaped lateral margins of the epistome. Some species, based exclusively on deutonymphs or/and males, that have the first sternal pores atypically oriented transversely to the longitudinal axis instead of obliquely were incorrectly placed in Alliphis , not Alloseius . The identification of species of Alliphis is complicated by the striking morphological uniformity of most species, and by the fact that some species are incompletely known. Some of the described species are undoubtedly synonyms, for example, Alliphis hirschmanni Arutunian 1991 = Alliphis scarabaeorum Ogandzhanyan 1969 (new synonymy).

Alliphis is one of the largest genera of Eviphididae . It currently includes about 20 species, mostly associated with various scarab beetles, and distributed mainly in the Palaearctic region ( Koroleva 1968; Ogandzhanyan 1969; Samšiňák & Daniel 1978; Christie 1983; Gu et al. 1989; Arutunian 1991, 1992a; Mašán 1994a; Gu & Liu 1996; Gu & Bai 1997; Gu & Fan 1997a; Li 2001; Halliday 2008), with some species known from Africa ( Ryke & Meyer 1957; Ryke 1959) and Australia (Halliday, personal observations). Alliphis halleri has been recorded in Europe, North Africa, and North America ( Halliday 2008). In Slovakia, this genus is represented by five species.