Gaeolaelaps aculeifer (G. Canestrini)

Joharchi, Omid, Ueckermann, Edward A., Döker, Ismail, Khaustov, Vladimir A. & Hänel, Christine, 2021, Some free-living laelapid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata: Laelapidae) from Tristan da Cunha and Nightingale Islands, with description of a new species of Gaeolaelaps Evans & Till (Acari: Laelapidae) and the first afrotropical record of the genus Nidilaelaps Shaw, Zootaxa 5026 (2), pp. 271-285 : 273

Gaeolaelaps aculeifer (G. Canestrini)

( Figures 3 & 4 ).

Laelaps aculeifer G. Canestrini, 1884: 698 .

Hypoaspis aculeifer .—G. Canestrini, 1885: 84.

Androlaelaps concisus Womersley, 1956: 579 (synonymy by Strong & Halliday, 1994: 87).

Hypoaspis (Hypoapis) aculeifer .— Karg, 1962: 61.

Gaeolaelaps aculeifer .— Beaulieu, 2009: 36; Kavianpour et al., 2013: 2; Kazemi et al., 2014.

Hypoaspis (Gaeolaelaps) aculeifer .— Evans & Till, 1966: 166; Faraji et al., 2008: 207.

Geolaelalps aculeifer .— Farrier & Hennessey, 1993: 72.

Hypoaspis (Geolaelalps) aculeifer .— Bregetova, 1977: 503.

Specimens examined. Five females and two males, Tristan da Cunha Island, 37°12’ S, 12°22’ W, 21 Feb. 2005, alt. 120 ft., C. Hänel coll., from white fungus on rotting tree .

Remarks. The type species of the genus, Gaeolaelaps aculeifer (G. Canestrini) , is cosmopolitan and well known as a predator, and has been used in the biological control of crop pests ( Beaulieu, 2009; Kazemi et al., 2014). Our newly collected specimens agree very well with the description given by Evans & Till (1966). The species is easily recognised by the tarsal spines on legs II and IV, genu and tibia II with av1 spine-like, tibia II with pv1 spur-like, dorsal shield slowly tapering from r3–4, with 39 pairs of setae, length of setae decreasing from anterior to posterior ( Fig. 3 ), sternal and genital shields reticulate throughout, sternal shield with ratio length/width 1.5–1.9 ( Fig. 4 ).

Figures

FIGURES 1–4. 1–2. DICmicrographs of Cosmolaelaps claviger (Berlese, 1883), female. 1, dorsal idiosoma; 2, ventral idiosoma. 3–4. DIC micrographs of Gaeolaelaps aculeifer (G. Canestrini, 1884), female. 1, dorsal idiosoma; 2, ventral idiosoma.