Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) uhoneae, Ueckermann & Situngu & Barker, 2021

Ueckermann, E. A., Situngu, Sivuyisiwe & Barker, Nigel P., 2021, Checklist of Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) species from plants bearing leaf domatia, from the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, with the description of a new species, Journal of Natural History 55 (11 - 12), pp. 683-697 : 685-688

Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) uhoneae sp.n. ( Figures 1-4 )

Type material

Female holotype and one paratype female, one paratype male from Gardenia thunbergia L.f. ( Rubiaceae ), Kambi Forest, 14 October 2014; one paratype male from Psychotria capensis (Eckl.) Vatke (Rubiaceae) , Maiden Dam, King-Williamstown, 11 October 2014.

Diagnosis

Dorsal shield partially reticulated; bearing five pairs of rounded solenostomes; dorsal setae stout, smooth and acute to slightly acute, except for setae Z5 which are serrated and knobbed distally, setae S5 clearly shorter than S4 and S2, setae Z4 shorter than distances to setae S5; peritreme extending to level of setae j1; sternal shield with 3 pairs of setae; ventrianal shield with 4 pairs pre-anal setae and a pair of pre-anal pores; fixed cheliceral digit with 5 teeth and movable digit with 3; leg IV with 3 knobbed macrosetae; calyx of spermatheca saccular and atrium nodular; genu II with seven setae.

Description

Female ( Figure 1–3 ) (n = 2)

Dorsum ( Figure 1 (a-c)). Dorsal setal pattern 12A:8B ( Chant and Yoshida-Shaul 1989). Dorsal shield 335(330) long and 195(207) wide, waisted medially with anterolateral margins reticulate-striate, medially with few striae, opisthosoma irregularly reticulate to reticulate behind setae j6 ( Figure 1 (a)). All dorsal setae short, smooth, acute to slightly acute and stout ( Figure 1 (b-c)) except for setae Z5 which are much longer, serrate and knobbed distally. Muscle-marks (sigilla) medially on prodorsum. Five pairs of rounded solenostomes (gd2, gd4, gd6, gd8 and gd9) present. Poroids not visible. Setae r3 and R1 on cuticle flanking dorsal shield . Lengths of setae: j1 16(17), j3 19(18), j4 15(14), j5 16(16), j6 17(16), J2 20(18), J5 11(11), z2 16(16), z3 18(16), z4 18(17), z5 16(17), Z4 31(30), Z5 64(56), s4 20 (20), s6 21 (20), S2 24 (22), S4 23 (22), S5 12 (13), r3 18(15) and R1 18(16) . Peritreme reach anterior to setae j1.

Venter ( Figure 2 ). Ventral setal pattern 15: JV: ZV ( Chant and Yoshida-Shaul 1991). Sternal shield almost squarish with three pairs of setae and two pairs of poroids (iv1 and iv2). Distances st1-st3 58(58) and st2-st2 61(63). Shield smooth with posterior margin not visible. Setae st4 and poroids iv3 on indistinct small metasternal platelets. Genital shied smooth with st5-st5 65(65) and two lines, genital sigilla not clearly visible. Ventrianal shield pentagonal, 111(108) long, 89 (84) wide at level of ZV2and 83(82) wide at level of anal opening, with four pairs of pre-anal setae and two rounded solenostomes (gv3) posteromedially to setae JV2. Setae JV5 28 (28) long, smooth, stout and slightly knobbed distally. Two pairs of inguinal sigilla with primary one rather broad and elongate oval, 21(22) and secondary one smaller and slender, 12(11).

Spermatheca ( Figure 3 (a)) – Calyx saccular 16 long with posterior third thick-walled; atrium nodular attached to the calyx without neck.

Chelicerae ( Figure 3 (b)) – Fixed chela 27(24) long with 5 teeth and a pilus dentilis. Movable chela 24 (25) long with 3 teeth.

Legs ( Figure 3 (c-d)) – Chaetotaxy of genu II 2–2/0, 2/0-1, genu III 1–2/1, 2/0 − 1, with Sge III stout and blunt distally, 17(16) long. Leg IV with Sge IV knobbed, 16(14) long, Sti IV knobbed, 20(18) long and StIV, knobbed and 26(26) long.

Male ( Figure 4 (a-c))

Dorsum ( Figure 4 (a)). Dorsal shield 246–279 long and 170–192 wide, broadly oval and reticulated except for centre of prodorsum. All dorsal setae short, smooth, some blunt distally and stout except for setae Z4 and Z5 which are longer, serrate and latter knobbed distally. Sigilla medially on prodorsum. Five pairs of solenostomes (gd2, gd4, gd6, gd8 and gd9) present. Setae r3 and R1 on dorsal shield . Lengths of setae: j1 13–17, j3 15–20, j4 12, j5 11–14, j6 12–15, J2 14–17, J5 10–11, z2 13–15, z3 12–16, z4 12–17, z5 12–14, Z4 23–24, Z5 38–44, s4 14 –17, s6 15 –20, S2 16 –20, S4 18 –20, S5 11 –13, r3 13–18 and R1 13–17 . Peritreme reach anterior to setae j1.

Venter ( Figure 4 (b)) – Sternogenital shield, 113–133 long and 70–83 wide, with 5 pairs of setae, two pairs of pores and genital opening on anterior margin. Ventrianal shield triangular, 95–110 long and 137–160 wide, fused with peritremal shields and with four pairs of pre-anal setae and two pre-anal pores. Setae JV5 (15–17) flanking ventrianal shield and is smooth and pointed.

Spermatodactyl ( Figure 4 (c)) – Straight, 19–21 long, forked distally into a knobbed process and a short blunt process. Knobbed process with curved claw-like structure at base of knob.

Legs – Same as for female.

Etymology – This species is named after the second author’s daughter, Uhone meaning ‘arrived’ in the Venda language one of 11 languages in South Africa.

Remarks – This new species was compared with all 320 Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) spp in the Phytoseiidae Database ( Demite et al. 2020) and 8 species not in the database ( Chatti et al. 2017; Döker et al. 2017; Ferragut and Navia 2017; Fang et al. 2018; Karmakar and Bhowmik 2018; Ferragut and Baumann 2019) and differs from them all but is closely related to T.(A.) haramotoi Prasad (1968) in the shape of the dorsal setae being stout with setae S5 very short, Z4 shorter than distance to setae S5 and Z5 long serrate and knobbed distally, leg IV with 3 knobbed macrosetae and setae JV5 knobbed. However, it differs from T. (A.) haramotoi in that setae Z4 are serrate, genu II has 6 setae and in the shape of the spermatheca ( Schicha and McMurtry 1986). It is also closely related to T. (A.) gressitti McMurtry and de Moraes (1985) in having all dorsal setae smooth except for setae Z5 which are serrate and knobbed, 3 knobbed setae on leg IV and appearance of spermatheca. It differs from T. (A.) gressitti in that all dorsal setae (except Z5) are slender but stout in new species, setae JV5 acute but knobbed in new species, pre-anal pores are situated behind setae JV2 but posteromedially to JV 2 in the new species and peritreme are slightly bent backwards between setae j1 but not bent in new species. The macrosetae on leg IV are also longer than that of T. (A.) gressitti with the one on genu IV twice as long as that of the latter.

The following known species were also found on plants with domatia during this survey:

Figures

Figures 1-4. Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) uhoneae.Figure 1. (a) Dorsal shield of female.Figure 1. (b) Dorsal seta j1 of female.Figure 1. (c) Dorsal seta j3 of female.Figure 2. Ventral view of female.Figure 3. (a) Spermatheca of female.Figure 3. (b) Chelicerae of female.Figure 3. (c) Tibia-Genu of leg III of female.Figure 3. (d) Basitarsus-Tibia-Genu of leg IV of female.Figure 4. (a) Dorsal shield of male. Figure 4. (b) Ventral view of male.Figure 4. (c) Spermatodactyl of male.