Scheloribates (S.) labyrinthicus, Jeleva, 1962

Gol, Tahereh Taghipour, Bagheri, Mohammad & Ahaniazad, Mansoureh, 2017, Oribatid mites of Oripodoidea (Acari: Oribatida) from northwest of Iran with additional description of Scheloribates (Scheloribates) labyrinthicus, Persian Journal of Acarology 6 (2), pp. 81-93 : 82-85

Scheloribates (S.) labyrinthicus ** Jeleva, 1962 ( Figs. 1–18 )

Additional description

Measurement s – Body length: 600–610, width: 425–450.

Integument – Body yellowish brown in colour. Integumental surface (excluding genital plates, prodorsum and subcapitulum) with undulating lines which constitute labyrinth-like ornamentation.

Prodorsum ( Figs. 1, 3–6 ) – Rostrum rounded, weakly protruding in dorsal view; lamellae developed and approximately longer than half of the prodorsum length, thicker in base, slightly narrowed distally and without cusps; translamellar line absent; prolamellar lines present, reaching the insertion points of rostral setae; rostral setae (ro: 75–88) in middle length, inserted laterally ( Fig. 4 ); lamellar setae (le: 128–133) thinner and longer than rostral ones ( Fig. 5 ); interlamellar setae (in: 145– 160) longer than lamellar ones ( Fig. 6 ); exobothridial setae (ex: 60–67) developed. All setae setiform and barbed bilaterally; bothridial setae (ss: 80–100) curved, fusiform, with asymmetrical and barbed distal part ( Fig. 3 ); porose areas Al elongated, ribbon shape, transverse oriented, located in sublamellar position; porose areas Ad small, oval, located posterolateral to interlamellar setae.

Notogaster ( Figs. 1, 4, 5 ) – Notogaster U shaped, with well-developed pteromorphs; dorsosejugal suture straight medially; dorsophragmata (D) small, oval; surface of notogaster with labyrinth-like sculptures which create reticulate ornamentation; 10 pairs of notogastral setae simple, thin, but easily observable; 5 pairs of setae (lm, lp, h 1, h 2, h 3) inserted medially, other setae (c, la, p 1, p 2, p 3) inserted laterally; 4 pairs of sacculi (Sa, S 1, S 2, S 3) present; lyrifissures ia, im and ip distinct. Setal measurements as follows: c 16-19, lm 22–23 ( Fig. 7 ), la 20–25, lp 15–17, h 1 18–20, h 2 25–26, h 3 21– 22, p1 22–24, p2 24–26, p3 22–23. Both the pteromorphs with labyrinth-like ornamentations, similar to that present on the notogaster.

Gnathosoma ( Figs. 2 , 12–14) – Subcapitulum longer than wide: 120–122 × 78–80; subcapitular setae setiform and smooth, a 15–16, m 16–18, h 29–35 (Fig. 12); palps (length 88–90) with setation 0-2-1-3-9(+ ω); solenidion thickened, blunt-ended, attached with eupathidium acm (Fig. 14); chelicerae with two setiform and barbed setae; cha (39–42) longer than chb (25–28); trägårdh’s organ (Tg) distinct (Fig. 13).

Epimeral region ( Fig. 2 ) – Epimeral region strongly sclerotized, apodemes I–III and sejugal apodeme distinct; epimeral setal formula: 3-1-3-3. All epimeral setae setiform, thin and smooth. Setal measurements as follows: 1a 14–16, 1b 28–30, 1c 22–23, 2a 13–14, 3a 14–15, 3b 29–31, 3c 24–25, 4a 24–30, 4b 16–17, 4c 24.

Anogenital region ( Fig. 2 ) – Chaetotaxy of anogenital region typical; four pairs of genital (g 1 – g 4), one pair of aggenital (ag), two pairs of anal (an 1, an 2) and three pairs of adanal (ad 1 – ad 3) setae present; all setae setiform, thin, smooth; lyrifissures iad distinct, located parallel to anal plates. Setal measurements as follows: g1-g4 12–15, ag 19–21, an1 12–18, an2 17–25, ad1-ad3 15–23; ad 1 in postanal position.

Figure 8–14. Scheloribates (S.) labyrinthicus (female) – 8. Sacculus Sa; 9. Sacculus S 1; 10. Sacculus S 2; 11. Sacculus S 3; 12. Subcapitulum; 13. Chelicerae (left); 14. Palp (left).

Legs ( Figs. 15–18 ) – All legs heterotridactylous, medial claw thicker and larger than lateral claws. Formulae of leg setation and solenidia: I (1-5-3-4-19) [1-2-2], II (1-5-2-4-15) [1-1-2], III (2- 3-1-3-15) [1-1-0], IV (1-2-2-3-12) [0-1-0] ( Table 1). Famulus (ε) short, straight, blunted; all setae of legs (except setae p and trochanteral setae) slightly barbed; tarsus, tibia and femur I–IV and trochanter III and IV with porose areas.

Material examined

Three females were collected from the soil of red delicious apple orchards ( Malus domestica Borkh. ; Rosaceae ), Norouz Lu Village and six females were collected from the soil of walnut orchards ( Juglans regia L.; Juglandaceae ), Ag Kand E Baroog Village, Miandoab region, West Azerbaijan province, Iran; 6 August 2015, by Tahereh Taghipour Gol (See Table 2).

Remarks

Csiszár and Jeleva (1962) described Scheloribates (s) labyrinthicus from Bulgaria; afterwards it

was recorded from Czechoslovakia ( Miko 1987), Western Ukraine, Bohemia, Moravia (Karppinen et al. 1992), Spain (Pérez‐ Iñigo 1993), Slovakia (Stary 2006) and Romania (Mahunka and Mahunka- Papp 2008; Ivan and Vasiliu 2008). Weigmann et al. (2015) considered S. laevigatus as a synonym of S. labyrinthicus but they did not give any reason for their action. We do not follow these authors because the labyrinth-like ornamentation is unique and consistent in all populations of S. labyrinthicus . The original description provides only figures of dorsal and ventral view of body; figures for the legs, chelicera and palps were not drawn. Furthermore, there are not any complete redescription or detailed figures in the other literatures. It is therefore warranted to provide an additional description of this species. According to Pérez- Iñigo et al. (1987) presence of seta C 3 is very inconstant and shows variation in different populations of S. labyrinthieus for example in Spanish specimens, only one specimen shows bilaterally fully developed setae C 3 on tip of pteramorph (a male), seven specimens (three males and four females) have the seta C3 only on one pteromorph and eight specimens (five males and three females) show no traces of seta C3 on both sides (Pérez- Iñigo et al. 1987) however, Iranian specimens follow the Miko (1987), and Ivan and Vasiliu (2008) in absence of seta C 3 (there are only 10 notogastral setae). In addition, length of body in Iranian specimens is longer [541 in Csiszár and Jeleva 1962; 540–576 in Pérez- Iñigo (1993) and 600–610 in present study].

Figures

Figures 1–7. Scheloribates (S.) labyrinthicus Jeleva, 1962 (female) – 1. Dorsal view of body; 2. Ventral view of body; 3. Sensillus; 4. Rostral seta; 5. Lamellar seta; 6. Interlamellar seta; 7. Seta lm.

Figures 15-18. Scheloribates (S.) labyrinthicus (female) – 15. Leg I (right, trochanter to tarsus), 16. Leg II (right, trochanter to tarsus), 17. Leg III (left, trochanter to tarsus), 18. Leg IV (right, trochanter to tarsus).