Zercon ostovani, B & Karaca & B, 2018

B, Sanaz Javan, Karaca, Mehmet & B, Raşit Urhan, 2018, Zercon ostovani sp. nov. (Acari: Mesostigmata: Zerconidae) from Iran, Turkish Journal of Zoology 42 (5), pp. 596-600 : 596-598

Zercon ostovani sp. nov. ( Figures 1–4)

Material : Holotype (♀). Eram Botanical Garden, Shiraz, Fars Province, Iran, 29°38.198′N, 52°31.573′E, 1569 m a.s.l., 01.IV.2014, collected by S. Javan, samples from litter and soil under red horse chestnut (Aesculus × carnea), an artificial hybrid between A. pavia (red buckeye) and A. hippocastanum (horse chestnut). – Paratypes: 4♀♀, same data as holotype .

Description: Female ( Figures 1–4). Length of idiosoma of holotype (excluding gnathosoma) 507, width 376. Measurements of 4 paratypes: Mean length 504 (496–512), mean width 375 (368–380). – Dorsal side ( Figures 1–2). Twenty pairs of different setae present on podonotum’s dorsal side: j -row with 6 pairs, z -row with 2 pairs, s -row with 6 pairs, r -row with 6 pairs. Two pairs of different setae present on podonotum’s ventral side: p -row with 2 pairs. On podonotum, setae j 1–2, r 2, and r 4–6 finely barbed. Seta r 3 finely barbed with hyaline ending. All of remaining setae (j 3–6, z 1–2, s 1–6, and r 1) are short, smooth, and needlelike on podonotum. Seta j 2 reaching beyond anterior margin of podonotum. Twenty-two pairs of different setae present on opisthonotum’s dorsal side: J -row with 6 pairs, Z -row with 5 pairs, S -row with 4 pairs, R -row with 7 pairs. On opisthonotum, setae J 1, Z 1–2, and S 1–2 similar in appearance, all of them short, smooth, and needlelike. Setae J 2–5, Z 3, Z 5, and R 1–7 finely barbed without hyaline ending. Setae J 6, Z 4, and S 3–4 similar in appearance and length, all of them elongated, finely barbed, with hyaline ending. Only seta J 4 reaches the base of the next seta in the following series. There is a large area between setae J 5 and dorsal cavities. Setae S 1–2 not reaching margin of opisthonotum. Seta S 3 reaches margin of opisthonotum, but seta S 4 reaches beyond opisthonotum. Marginal R setae similar to r setae on podonotum, slightly elongated, finely barbed, without hyaline ending. The distances between setae J 6– J 6 and J 6– Z 5 are 126 μm and 30 μm, respectively. – Pores. Location of pores is shown in Figure 2 . Three pairs of pores presented on podonotum. Pores po 1 on line connecting j 3 and s 1 (closer to s 1), po 2 on line connecting j 4 and s 4 (closer to s 4), po 3 located between s 5 and s 6 (closer to s 5). Podonotum covered by reticulate pattern. Four pairs of pores present on opisthonotum. Pores Po 1 located anteromedially to base of Z 1, Po 2 on line connecting Z 3 and R 4, Po 3 located between J 5 and S 4 (closer to J 5), Po 4 located below seta S 4. Opisthonotal shield with a distinct reticulate pattern in the anterior region and punctate pattern in the posterior region. Dorsal cavities general size and appearance saddlelike, well sclerotized, and axes parallel to that of the body ( Figure 4 ). – Ventral side ( Figure 3 ). Shape, chaetotaxy of ventral shields, and shapes of peritremes typical for genus Zercon . Setae p 1 short, smooth, and needlelike, seta p 2 slightly elongated and finely barbed. Lateral ends of peritremal shield reach setae R 1–2. Adgenital shields present, with 3 opening valves. Ventroanal shield with 9 pairs of setae. Anterior margin of ventroanal shield with 4 setae; postanal seta is single. All of them short, smooth, and needle-like. – Average lengths of opisthonotal setae and distances between setae within longitudinal rows of female specimens: see Table 1.

Male and immature stages. Unknown.

Differential diagnosis. Zercon ostovani sp. nov. is closely related to Z. embersoni Błaszak, 1985 , Z. kackaricus Urhan and Ekiz, 2002 , Z. orszaghorum Mašán and Fend’a, 2004 , and Z. peltatus C. L. Koch, 1836 . The distinguishing characters of these 5 related species of the genus Zercon are shown in Table 2. Unlike other species in the genus Zercon (except for a few species), seta J 5 shows a rare feature: bases of seta J 5 located on the same horizontal line with the bases of seta Z 4 ( Figure 4 ).

Etymology. The new species is named in honor of Iranian acarologist Prof. Dr. Hadi Ostovan for his valuable research at Islamic Azad University of Shiraz.

and S rows of Zercon ostovani sp. nov. (values as mean, in micrometers). Nomenclatural acts: This work and the nomenclatural acts it contains have been registered in ZooBank. The ZooBank Life Science Identifier ( LSID) for this publication is: http:// zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:31C50A99-3E70-4364-BC6E-3C33548B1C13 .

Figures

Figure 2. Dorsal view of female of Zercon ostovani sp. nov. Scale bar = 100 μm.

Figure 3. Ventral view of female of Zercon ostovani sp. nov. Abbreviations; Ts: tritosternum, Sts: sternal shield, Gs: genital shield, C: endopodal shield, Ads: Adgenital shield, Pr: peritrem, Pes:peritremal shield, Vas: ventroanal shield, An: anal orifice, Pa: postanal seta. Scale bar = 100 μm.

Figure 4. Locations of bases of setae J5 and Z4 on opisthonotum (female). Scale bar = 50 μm.