Malaconothrus purvisi, Luxton, M., 1987

Luxton, M., 1987, Mites of the genus Malaconothrus (Acari: Cryptostigmata) from the British Isles, Journal of Natural History 21, pp. 199-206 : 202-203

Malaconothrus purvisi sp. nov.

(Fig. 2)

Malaconothrus gracilis (part) Purvis (1982).

Dimensions. Mean length 473 µm (range 450-490 µm) (N = 3); mean width at widest point 227 µm (range 200-240 µm) (N = 3).

Prodorsum. Finely punctate with some faint irregular patches of sculpturing posteriorly. Rostrum rounded, rostral setae long and somewhat roughened. Some tiny tubercles scattered between the tips of the lamellae and occasionally elsewhere on the surface. Lamellar setae closer together than rostral setae, long, fine and smooth. Inter-lamellar setae extraordinarily long, hair-like, smooth. Exobothridial setae similar in form but only half the length of the inter-lamellars. Lateral to the exobothridial setae is a round mark which may contain a pore.

Notogaster. Finely punctate with periodic bacillar flecks. All setae long, sinuous, fine and smooth. Sides of hysterosoma more or less parallel, curving to a rounded posterior.

Venter. Typical for genus. Epimera finely punctate. Epimeral setae short, all other ventral setae long and smooth.

Appendages. Typical for genus. The terminal spines (ft") of the tarsi of all legs have an annular indentation above their bases.

Distinguishing features. The species can be distinguished from all others by the extremely long inter-lamellar setae, the long notogastral setae and the finely punctate surface. Furthermore, the roughened rostral setae and the annulated tarsal spines are not found in other British representatives of this genus.

Locality. Wet grazed pasture, and in a bog with Iris pseudacorus , Carnsore Point , Co. Wexford, Ireland, coll. G. Purvis.

Types. The holotype and two paratypes (from Iris pseudacorus bog) are deposited at the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin.