Gaeolaelaps mirzakhaniae Kazemi & Khalesi, 2018

Joharchi, Omid & Negm, Mohamed W., 2020, Soil-inhabiting mites of the family Laelapidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) from Assiut Governorate, Egypt, Zootaxa 4759 (4), pp. 488-510 : 498

Gaeolaelaps mirzakhaniae Kazemi & Khalesi

Gaeolaelaps mirzakhaniae Kazemi & Khalesi (in Khalesi & Kazemi, 2018) : 629.

Specimen examined. One female; 27°11’ N, 31°09’ E, Assiut University, Assiut; 22 June 2016; coll. M.W. Negm; ex. soil.

Remarks. Gaeolaelaps mirzakhaniae was described from soil and litter of a citrus orchard in Iran ( Khalesi & Kazemi, 2018). It is now recorded in Egypt for the first time, from soil. The species is easily recognised by the characteristic shape of its dorsal shield, which partly covers the dorsal idiosoma, narrowing from level of setae r3 to that of gland pore gd9, then sharply tapering until a rounded posterior end, shield bearing 39 pairs of setae (including two pairs of Zx setae), sternal shield longer than broad, shield smooth medially, reticulate laterally, peritremes long, anteriorly reaching to mid-level of coxae I. Palp tarsal claw two-tined.