Malaconothrus egregius Berlese

van der Hammen, L., 1959, Berlese's Primitive Oribatid Mites, Zoologische Verhandelingen 40, pp. 1-93 : 76

Malaconothrus egregius Berlese , 1904

Lohomannia (Malaconothrus) egregia Berlese , 1904b, p. 24, pl. 2 fig. 38.

Malaconothrus egregius , Lombardini, 1936, p. 44.

In the Berlese Collection slide no. 213/48 is present, with a specialen from the garden of the "Stazione di Entomologia Agraria" at Florence; it is not designated as type. The measurements of the specimen are 0.490 X 0.205 mm, whilst, according to Berlese, the type measures 0.450 X 0.210 mm (the drawing is exactly two times as long as broad!).

Because I collected specimens in the Boboli Gardens in Florence, the identity of the species is certain.

It resembles Malaconothrus gracilis Van der Hammen (1952, p. 27, fig. 2c, d., g, k, 1) because of the parallel-sided hysterosoma, the long notogastral hairs, and the structure of the cerotegument. The length of the anal covers appears to be equal to that of the genitals.

Willmann (1931, p. 108) describes a species from damp places as Malaconothrus egregius , although he doubts if it is M. crinitus Berlese . I remark that crinitus is a Trimalaconothrus , whilst the real egregius has much longer notogastral hairs than Willmann's specimens, and a completely different habitat (just as M. gracilis ); the measurements recorded by Willmann are 0.400 X 0.180, the length of gracilis is 0.405-0.455 mm.

An extensive redescription of M. egregius will be published in a separate series.