Brontispalaelaps Womersley, 1956

Masan, Peter, 2017, A revision of the family Ameroseiidae (Acari, Mesostigmata), with some data on Slovak fauna, ZooKeys 704, pp. 1-228 : 1

Genus Brontispalaelaps Womersley, 1956

Brontispalaelaps Womersley, 1956a: 533. Type species: Brontispalaelaps leveri Womersley, 1956, by original designation.

Brontispalaelaps . - Evans 1963a: 229.

Diagnosis (adults).

Dorsal shield well sclerotised and ornamented, with 27-29 pairs of setae. Dorsal setae not conspicuously thickened or otherwise modified. In female, sternal setae on sternal shield (st1, st2, st3), complex metasternal-endopodal platelet (st4), and epigynal shield (st5). Epigynal shield relatively large, well oblong, and with posterior margin widely abutting ventrianal shield. In both sexes, posteroventral region with reduced number of four pairs of opisthogastric setae on ventrianal shield (JV2, JV3, ZV2) or on soft integument (JV5); setae JV1 and JV4 absent. Ventrally inserted setae including JV5 short, smooth and needle-like. Corniculi apically bifid. Fixed digit of chelicera with eight subequal denticles on masticatory area; spermatodactyl relatively long, apparently longer than movable digit. Epistome subtriangular, with one or two sharply pointed cusps. Palptarsal apotele three-tined. Genua II-III without ventral setae, genu III with two anterolateral and one posterolateral setae, tibia IV with two anterolateral and two posterolateral setae. Tarsi I-IV each with normal empodium and claws.

Remarks.

The genus comprises only two described species. They are reported from the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Australia (Queensland) and Thailand ( Womersley 1956a, Halliday 1997, Silva et al. 2014), as phoretic associates of phytophagous insects (see below).