Prozercon mahunkaiana, Ujvári, 2012

Ujvári, Z., 2012, Description Of A New Species, Prozercon Mahunkaiana N. Sp., And Redescription Of Prozercon Aristatus Athias-Henriot, 1961 From Portugal, Acarologia 52 (1), pp. 97-108 : 98-103

Prozercon mahunkaiana n. sp.

Diagnosis — Posterolateral tips of peritrematal shields reaching level of R 3 in female, fused to ventrianal shield in male. Most central and submarginal setae of podonotum smooth, j3 extraordinarily long, plumose. Marginal setae of opisthonotum smooth, thorn-like. Setae J1, Z1 and S2 short, pointed, pilose. Setae J4 situated on line connecting J3 and J5. Glands gdZ3 (Po3) situated lateral to Z3. Central pair of posterodorsal cavities strongly sclerotized, two times larger than lateral pairs, with axes converging posteriorly.

Description of female (n = 9) — Length of idiosoma: 312 – 323 µm (317 µm); width: 242 – 247 µm (246 µm). Holotype: length: 317 µm; width: 242 µm.

Dorsal side ( Figures 1A , 2 , 8D ) — Podonotum with 20 pairs of setae, j1-6, z2-6, s1-6, r2 and r4- 5 inserted dorsally, r1 and r3 inserted ventrally, on peritrematal shields. Podonotal setae j1 plumose, j2 and s1 finely pilose, j3 remarkably longer than the rest of central podonotal setae, plumose. Marginal setae z3, s2-3, r2, r4-5 and s6 plumose, other setae on the shield short, smooth and needle-like. Glands gds1 (po1) situated posterior to insertions of s1; gdj4 (po2) situated on line connecting j4 and z4, near z4; gds4 (po3) on line connecting s4 and s5. Podonotal shield covered by tile-like and reticulate pattern, with irregular pits in the crossing points on its central and posterior surface.

Opisthonotum with 22 pairs of setae, J1-5, Z1-5, S1-5 and R1-7. Setae J1, Z1 and S2 similar in shape and length, short, pointed and finely pilose. Setae J2 pilose, and J3-5 densely pilose ( Figure 8B ). Each J-setae short, none of them reaching bases of the following one in the series. Setae Z2-3 short and pilose, Z4 remarkably longer than former setae, plumose. Setae Z5 and S3-5 similar in appearance, expanding beyond margins of idiosoma, plumose. Marginal setae S1 and all the R-setae short, smooth and thornlike. Setae S2 situated on line connecting S1 and Z1, near Z1. Length of opisthonotal setae and distances between their insertions as in the Table 1. Glands gdZ1 (Po1) situated anterolateral to insertions of Z1; gdS2 (Po2) situated on line connecting S2 and Z2, closer to S2; gdZ3 (Po3) lateral to Z3; gdS5 (Po4) near S5, in posteromedial position. Central surface of opisthonotal shield covered by relatively large, alveolar pits, lateral surface with small, alveolar pits. Posterodorsal cavities well-developed, central pair strongly sclerotised, twice as large as the lateral pair, with axes converging posteriorly.

Ventral side ( Figure 1B ) — Slit between peritrematal shields and dorsal shields inconspicuous. Peritrematal shields with posterolateral tips reaching level of R3, covered by fine reticulation. Peritremes straight, without remarkable dilatation near the stigmata. Chaetotaxy and poroidotaxy of ventral shields typical for genus Prozercon . Sternal shield 47 µm long and 34 µm wide at the level of setae st2, with arcuate posterior margin and reticulate ornamentation. A weakly sclerotised slit between level of setae st1 and st2 can often be observed. Ventrianal shield with short, smooth and needle-like preanal and adanal setae, setae Zv1 absent. Postanal seta two times longer than preanal and adanal setae, setae Jv5 plumose. Anal valves with vestigial euanal setae. Glands gv3 situated anterolateral to adanal setae. Anterior surface of ventrianal shield covered by squamous pattern to level of Jv3-Zv4-Jv4.

Gnathosoma — Situation of hypostomal and subcapitular setae typical for the family. Setae h1 elongate, smooth. Setae h2-3 shorter than h1, smooth, h4 longer than previous setae, serrate. Corniculi horn-like, internal malae with a pair of bifurcate anterocentral branches and with serrate margins. Chelicerae relatively slender, fixed digit with 6 teeth, movable digit with 4 – 5 teeth. Epistome typical for the genus Prozercon , of Prozercon - type (see UjvAEri, 2011b).

Description of male (n = 1) ( Figures 3A, B ) — Length of idiosoma: 269 µm; width: 204 µm. Chaetotaxy, poroidotaxy and sculptural pattern of dorsal, ventrianal and peritrematal shields similar to those of female, except setae j2, s1, which smooth, and Z4 which similar in appearance to Z 3 in male. Length of opisthonotal setae and distances between their insertions as in the Table 1. Sternigenital shield entire in the single specimen, bearing four pairs of setae, setae st5 absent. Posterolateral tips of peritrematal shields fused to ventrianal shield at level of setae R3. Each characters of gnathosoma similar to that of female, but terminal part of fixed digit of chelicerae bifurcate.

Description of deutonymph (n = 1) ( Figure 4 ) — Length of idiosoma: 285 µm; width: 220 µm. Podonotal setae j1, j3, z3, s3 and s6 markedly elongate, plumose. Marginal setae s2, r2 and r4-5 somewhat shorter, plumose. Other podonotal setae short, smooth and needle-like. On opisthonotum, setae J1 5, Z1 2 and S2 similar in appearance, short, smooth and needle-like. The shape and po-

TP. sition of other setae, the situation of gland poroids and sculptural pattern similar to that of female (latter however less expressed). Length of opisthonotal setae and distances between their insertions as in the Table 1. Each characters of gnathosoma similar to that of the adults.

Type material — Holotype (female): Portugal, Vilago GerOEs, National Park Peneda GerOEs, from leaf litter, leg. T. Sz ˝uts, 12 Jun. 2005 (E-1647) . Paratypes: 8 females, 1 male and 1 deutonymph, locality and date as for the holotype. Type specimens are deposited in HNHM .

Etymology — The species is dedicated in honour of the worldwide known, prominent acarologist, former head of the Systematic Zoology Research Group of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Prof. Dr. SAEndor Mahunka.

Differential diagnosis — Based on the latest key to the genus Prozercon ( UjvAEri 2011a), P. mahunkaiana n. sp. belongs to the group of species possessing 7 pairs of R-setae, smooth S1, uniform, short, pointed and smooth or very finely pilose J1, Z1 and S2. Following the key, the species possesses elongate S3 setae, and by the small setal bases it is most similar to P. aristatus Athias-Henriot, 1961 , P. katae UjvAEri and Cǎlugǎr, 2010 and P. neorafalskii Balan and Sergienko, 1991 . Differntial characters of the four species are listed in the Table 2.

Figures

FIGURE 1: Prozercon mahunkaiana n. sp. female: A – dorsal view; B – ventral view. (Scale = 100 µm)

FIGURE 2: Prozercon mahunkaiana n. sp. female, dorsal view (SEM photo). (Scale = 100 µm)

FIGURE 8: SEM photos of Prozercon species of Portugal. A – P. aristatus, central surface of opisthonotum; B – P. mahunkaiana n. sp., central surface of opisthonotum; C – P. aristatus, caudodorsal view; D – P. mahunkaiana n. sp., caudodorsal view. (Scale = 100 µm)

FIGURE 3: Prozercon mahunkaiana n. sp. male: A – dorsal view; B – ventral view. (Scale = 100 µm)

FIGURE 4: Prozercon mahunkaiana n. sp. deutonymph, dorsal view. (Scale = 100 µm)