Paralaelaps Trägårdh, 1908

MAŠÁN, PETER & HALLIDAY, BRUCE, 2014, Review of the mite family Pachylaelapidae (Acari: Mesostigmata), Zootaxa 3776 (1), pp. 1-66 : 39

Genus Paralaelaps Trägårdh, 1908

Pachylaelaps (Paralaelaps) Trägårdh, 1908: 49 .

Type species Pachylaelaps (Paralaelaps) kibonotensis Trägårdh, 1908 , by monotypy.

not Paralaelaps Fonseca, 1935: 29 (= Neoparalaelaps Fonseca, 1937 ).

The genus Paralaelaps is difficult to define precisely, and it needs a thorough redescription. The description of its type species Paralaelaps kibonotensis was very general, and the same is true for the other three congeneric species described by Berlese (1918), Lombardini (1941) and Spies & Ryke (1965). The females of Paralaelaps were characterised by the distinctive genitiventral shield, which was described as "small, rounded and widely separated from the anal shield". The other two important diagnostic features of the subgenus were said to be (1) holoventral shield of the male not fully covering the posterior ventral idiosoma, and (2) palps without appendages. We now know that the main character state for recognising this genus is the strongly hypertrichous soft integument (see also remarks on the genus Elaphrolaelaps ) on the lateral and opisthogastric surfaces of the idiosoma ( Spies & Ryke, 1965). All included species are associates of scarabaeid beetles in Africa.