Galumna iranensis Mahunka et Akrami, 2001

Bayartogtokh, Badamdorj & Akrami, Mohammad Ali, 2014, The soil mite family Galumnidae of Iran (Acari: Oribatida), Journal of Natural History 48 (15), pp. 881-917 : 901-905

Galumna iranensis Mahunka et Akrami, 2001

( Figures 10 and 11A–D )

Galumna iranensis Mahunka et Akrami, 2001, p. 232 , Figures. 1 , 2 .

Galumna iranensis: Subías, 2004, p. 216 .

Diagnosis

With typical characters of Galumna ; rostrum with incision forming triangular central carina; rostral and lamellar setae thin, finely barbed; interlamellar seta long, finely barbed; sensillus medium long, with finely barbed, distally pointed lanceolate head; anterior margin of notogaster slightly concave medially; all porose areas round or slightly oval, Aa large, others smaller, subequal in size, median pore well developed in both sexes; Ap oval.

Measurements

Body length 420–586 (503) µm, width of notogaster 287–410 (348) µm.

Description

Integument. Body colour yellowish brown to deep reddish brown. Cuticle of body and legs with minute granules; notogaster with few microtubercles, especially female with larger tubercles on humeral region; epimeral region with small granules; pteromorph nearly smooth, with minute granules.

Prodorsum. Rostrum with incision forming triangular central carina, clearly seen in dorsofrontal view ( Figures 10D and 11B ). Rostral seta thin, finely barbed, inserted ventrally and well visible in dorsofrontal view. Lamellar seta thin, very slightly longer than ro, finely barbed. Interlamellar seta thin, nearly as long as le, finely barbed ( Figures 10A–D and 11B ). Sensillus with thin stalk and finely barbed lanceolate head distally pointed ( Figures 10C and 11D ). Lamellar and sublamellar lines well developed ( Figures 10A, B , and D, and 11A). Dorsosejugal porose area medium in size, oval, located posterolaterad of seta in.

Notogaster. Notogaster slightly widened posteriorly, dorsosejugal furrow well developed, slightly concave medially. Pteromorph nearly smooth, with minute granules. Notogastral setae vestigial, their alveoli well discernable. Porose area Aa nearly round, distinctly larger than other porose areas; A 1, A 2 and A 3 small, nearly round, subequal in size; median pore well developed in both sexes, consisting of many small pores. Lyrifissures ia, im, ih, ip, ips and opisthonotal gland opening well developed ( Figures 10A and 11C ).

Gnathosoma . Subcapitulum wider than long, nearly smooth; hypostomal setae a, m and h short, smooth ( Figure 10E ). Palp typical for family as shown in Pergalumna iunctiporosa sp. nov., all setae except on tarsus finely barbed, formula of setation: 0-2- 1-3-10 including solenidion ω on tarsus. Chelicera same as in Allogalumna dentirostrata sp. nov., with few heavily sclerotized blunt teeth on fixed and movable digits; setae cha and chb long, barbed; Trägårdh’ s organ well developed, its proximal part clearly discernable.

Epimeral region. With small granules and few microtubercles on sejugal area; apodemes apo.1, apo.2, apo.sj, apo.3, circumpedal carina and discidium well developed. Only three pairs of epimeral setae observed, setal formula: 1-0-1-1 ( Figure 10E ).

Ano-genital region. Anal aperture slightly larger than genital aperture. Most of anogenital setae well developed, thin, smooth; only setae g 5 and g 6 vestigial; adanal lyrifissure (iad) situated in paranal position, at level anterior to seta ad 3. Postanal porose area large, oval ( Figure 10E ).

Legs. Structure and setation of legs typical for family as shown in the description of Allogalumna dentirostrata sp. nov. Formula of setation, including famulus: I (1-4-3-4- 20), II (1-4-3-4-15), III (1-2-1-3-15), IV (1-2-2-3-12), formula of solenidia I (1-2-2), II (1-1-2), III (1-1-0), IV (0-1-0).

Material examined

One specimen (female): Amol , beginning of the Haraz road, Mazandaran province, Northern Iran, 36°25 ʹ N, 52°21 ʹ E, 76 m a.s.l., 10 April 2004, Coll. M. A. Akrami ; one specimen (male): Behshahr , begining of the Zaghmarz road, Mazandaran province, Northern Iran, 36°41 ʹ N, 53°32 ʹ E, 20 m a.s.l., 29 September 2004, Coll. M. A. Akrami.

Remarks

The main character states of the present material accord well with those of the type materials, described by Mahunka and Akrami (2001). The only observed differences are that the interlamellar seta was conspicuously thicker than seta le in the type materials, but in the specimens studied here these setae were of similar thickness. The porose areas Aa, A 1, A 2 and A 3 of the type specimens were nearly equal in size, but in our materials Aa was far larger than other porose areas. Mahunka and Akrami (2001) illustrated the distinct incision on the lateral part of sublamellar lines, but our specimens did not show this structure. Notogastral median pore was represented as single pore in the type specimens, but it consisted of many small pores in our studied material. We consider the mentioned differences of all these characters as intraspecific variations. It is worth noting that the body size of the female studied here was much larger than that of the male.

Distribution

Geographical range of this species is restricted to Iran. It had been found in central (Yazd province) and northwestern (East Azerbaijan province) areas of the country ( Mahunka and Akrami 2001; Lotfollahi and Irani-Nejad 2010), and is now recorded in the northern part of the country.

Ecology

This species is a typical inhabitant of the mosses and litter of forest, but recently, it was found in the soil of pasture under Poaceae ( Cynodon dactylon ).

Figures

Figure 1. Allogalumna dentirostrata sp. nov. (A) Dorsal view of idiosoma; (B) sensillus and bothridium; (C) posteroventral view of opisthonotum; (D) gnathosomal, epimeral and genital regions, partial.

Figure 2. Allogalumna dentirostrata sp. nov. (A) Prodorsum and anterior part of notogaster, showing variation of porose area Aa; (B) chelicera, left, antiaxial view (only tip is shown); (C) dorsofrontal view of prodorsum; (D) lateral view of notogaster.

Figure 10. Galumna iranensis Mahunka et Akrami, 2001. (A) Dorsal view of idiosoma; (B) lateral view of prodorsum; (C) lateral view of sensillus; (D) dorsofrontal view of prodorsum, partial; (E) ventral view of idiosoma.

Figure 11. Morphological characters of different species. (A––D) Galumna iranensis Mahunka et Akrami, 2001. (A) Lateral view of proterosoma (arrow indicates dorsosejugal porose area Ad); (B) dorsal view of prodorsum (arrow indicates central carina of rostrum); (C) lateral part of notogaster; (D) lateral view of sensillus. (E–H) Pergalumna microtuberculata sp. nov. (E) Posterior view of notogaster showing porose areas A3 and Ap; (F) porose area Aa; (G) posterior part of notogaster; (H) pteromorph.