Rhyncaphytoptinae Keifer

Chetverikov, Philipp E., Desnitskiy, Alexey G., Klimov, Pavel B., Ozman-Sullivan, Sebahat K., Romanovich, Anna E. & Sukhareva, Sogdiana I., 2023, Tuerkayana rotundum, Zoological Studies 62 (35), pp. 1-18 : 7-8

Subfamily Rhyncaphytoptinae Keifer Genus Brevulacus Manson 1984

Diagnosis: Mites of this genus have a complete set of all common opisthosomal, prodorsal, leg and gnathosomal setae, dorso-ventrally differentiated opisthosomal annuli, large anteriorly notched frontal lobe of prodorsal shield, and bushy undivided empodia with 3–7 well-developed secondary rays on all primary empodial rays, except the terminal pair.

Remarks: Manson (1984) reported that the tarsal solenidia ω are displaced laterally in the type species, B. reticulatus . However, considering the artifact positions of setae u ′ and empodium in the drawings from the original description ( Manson 1984, fig. 36F, 43F), and the fact that different authors observed normal positioning of ω in this species ( Pye 2012, this paper), we do not consider this trait to be either a true characteristic of B. reticulatus or a differentiating character of the genus Brevulacus .

Species included: Brevulacus reticulatus Manson 1984 (type species) from Quercus sp. in New Zealand, B. jilinensis Xue et al. 2009a from Quercus sp. in China, B. carpathicus Ripka 2011 from Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl. in Hungary, B. extensus Pye 2012 from Quercus robur L. in Great Britain, B. albus ( Keifer 1959) n. comb. from Quercus alba L. in USA, and B. atlanticus ( Keifer 1959) n. comb. from Ulmus americana L. in USA.

Remarks: Twenty five years before Manson (1984) erected the genus Brevulacus and described the type species, B. reticulatus , from Quercus sp. , Keifer (1959) described two Rhyncaphytoptus species from the northern USA, R. albus from Quercus alba L. ( Fagaceae ) and R. atlanticus from Ulmus americana L. ( Ulmaceae ). These two Rhyncaphytoptus species are very close morphologically to B. reticulatus , having almost identical net-like ornamentation of the prodorsal shield ( Fig. 4 A, B, E, F ), and possessing large bushy empodia and a broad notched frontal lobe. We transfer these two species from g. Rhyncaphytoptus to g. Brevulacus because we consider them members of the same putatively monophyletic group of rhyncaphytoptines with a notched frontal lobe defined by Manson (1984) as the genus Brevulacus . Another Brevulacus species ( B. salicinus ) was described from Salix sp. ( Salicaceae ) from Iran ( Soika et al. 2017). However, this species does not conform to the generic diagnosis of Brevulacus because it has an acuminate frontal lobe of the prodorsal shield ( Fig. 4D ). Additionally, it lives on Salix sp. ( Salicaceae ), in contrast to most other Brevulacus spp. that are associated with oaks ( Fagaceae ). Morphologically, this species fits the diagnosis of the genus Rhyncaphytoptus Keifer. Therefore , we propose a new combination, Rhyncaphytoptus salicinus ( Soika et al. 2017) comb. nov. Seven Rhyncaphytoptus species are known from willows ( Salix spp. ) worldwide, including R. acilius Keifer 1939 , R. alsasuensis Roivainen 1953 , R. capreae Liro 1942 , R. funali Xue et al. 2009a , R. salicifoliae Keifer 1939 , R. salicis-glaucae Roivainen 1950 and R. tibetisalisis Song, Xue & Hong 2009 . Future comparison is needed to determine if “ salicinus ” is a junior synonym of one of these species or a true species.

Hosts: Oaks ( Fagaceae : Quercus ) and elm ( Ulmaceae : Ulmus ).

Relation to hosts: All known species of Brevulacus are vagrant and cause no visible damage to their hosts.

Figures

Fig. 4. Prodorsal shields in females of Brevulacus reticulatus Manson 1984 (protogyne, A, from original description. B, this paper), B. extensus Pye 2012 (C), Rhyncaphytoptus salicinus (Soika et al. 2017) n. comb. (D), B. albus (Keifer 1959) n. comb. (E), B. atlanticus (Keifer 1959) n. comb. (F), B. carpathicus Ripka 2011 (G), and B. jilinensis Xue, Song & Hong 2009 (H). All except figure 4B redrawn from original descriptions.