Laelaspis Berlese

Joharchi, Omid, Jalaeian, Mahdi, Paktinat-Saeej, Saeed & Ghafarian, Azadeh, 2012, A new species and new records of Laelaspis Berlese (Acari, Laelapidae) from Iran, ZooKeys 208, pp. 17-25 : 19

Genus Laelaspis Berlese

Laelaps (Laelaspis) Berlese 1903: 13.

Type species.

Laelaps astronomicus Koch, 1839, by original designation.

Diagnosis.

See Joharchi et al. (2011).

Notes on the genus.

Laelaspis belongs to a group of genera of Laelapidae in which the genital shield of the female is greatly expanded, so that its posterior margin abuts the anal shield and its lateral margins extend outward behind coxae IV. The expanded genito-ventral shield in these genera captures at least two pairs of ventral setae in addition to the genital setae on the the extreme edges of the shield. Laelaspis is distinguished from Gymnolaelaps by its two-tined palp tarsal claw, the absence of pre-sternal shields, and the presence of two distinct Λ-shaped lines on the genital shield. Laelaspis differs from Pseudoparasitus because Pseudoparasitus has at least two pairs of setae on the surface of the genital shield, well separated from the edges of the shield, while all the genital setae of Laelaspis and Gymnolaelaps are on the extreme edges of the shield.