Paralamellobates misella (Berlese, 1910)

Behan-Pelletier, V. M., Li, D. & Fan, Q. H., 2016, Phylogenetic relationships of Paralamellobates: immature characters of P. misella (Berlese) place the genus in Punctoribatidae (Acari, Oribatida), Acarologia 56 (2), pp. 141-165 : 155-158

Remarks on Paralamellobates misella

Morphology — We compared specimens used in this redescription with type material of Paralamellobates striatus and consider them conspecific, thus, P. striatus is a junior synonym of P. misella , new syn. There are 2 corrections to make to the description of P. striatus ( Behan-Pelletier 1998) . The bothridium of P. striatus is described as "cup-shaped, with well-developed ventrolateral scale", whereas both ventrolateral, ventromedial and dorsomedial scales are well-developed ( Fig. 3B ) as is common in Ceratozetidae and Punctoribatidae ( Behan-Pelletier 1994) . Also, the epimeral setal formula is incorrectly given as 3-1-3-3, rather than 3-1-2-2.

In his redescription of adult Paralamellobates ceylanicus, Engelbrecht (1986) did not notice the octotaxic system, probably because of the unusual expression of the saccules. He also gave an epimeral setation of 2-1-2-2, overlooking setae 1c.

We have not seen male specimens of Paralamellobates misella and no males were recorded among the material of P. striatus from Costa Rica. It is possible that thelytoky is the mode of reproduction. This undoubtedly contributes to the wide distribution of P. misella which shows an almost pantropical distribution. In contrast, Haq and Ramani (1984) who studied development of P. bengalensis on leaves of Dioscorea alata L., the water yam, in the laboratory noted the deposition of spermatophores in this species.

Genetics — DNA sequences of COI (1054 bp), D2/D3 region of 28S (807 bp) and 18S (1593 bp) genes were obtained with identical sequences for each individual mite. Although COI is good marker for inter- and intra-species analysis, there are no closely related COI sequences for P. misella in BOLD and GenBank databases, the closest matches are 80 % identities with Scutozetes lanceolatus (Ceratozetoidea) in BOLD and Scutovertex pictus (Licneremaeoidea) ( GU208586 and GU208587 ) in GenBank. Phylogenetic analysis of COI sequences from the cohort brachypylina revealed that P. misella did not cluster with any known species using Bayesian and PHYML analyses.

DNA sequences of D2/D3 region for P. misella showed 82% identities with Anachipteria acuta (Achipterioidea) ( JQ000356 ), and a Sarcoptiformes sp. (JN0083151) in BLAST search. The available 28S DNA sequences of brachypyline mites are mainly for the D3 region with 300 bp length in GenBank. Phylogenetic analysis of D3 sequences of cohort brachypylina did not provide clear resolution for P. misella .

The 18S gene has proven useful for resolving relationships of distantly related lineages of Acari ( Cruickshank, 2002; Murrell et al., 2005). Phylogenetic analysis of 18S sequences for P. misella and the available sequences of brachypyline mites showed a similar tree topology for PHYML and MrBayes analyses, thus only the Bayesian tree of the 18S sequences is given in Fig. 8 . The phylogenetic tree showed that P. misella formed a clade with Scutovertex sculptus ( Scutoverticidae of superfamily Licneremaeoidea ) and Eremaeozetes sp. ( Eremaeozetidae of superfamily Eremaeozetoidea ), with 100 percent pp support. P. misella is not closely related to Punctoribatidae based on current molecular information.

Biology — Examination of gut contents of these specimens indicated that P. misella is fungivorous, with conidia and conidiophores of a species of Cladosporium ( Capnodiales : Davidiellaceae ) found in its digestion system. Adult females deposited their eggs singly in cracks or cavities in the fruit end. Usually a female laid 1 to 3 eggs per day. Twenty seven eggs developed to adults. The mites went through larval and three nymphal stages with four quiescent phases at the end of each active stage. All active stages moved around and scraped the surface substance, presumably fungi, from time to time. Development from egg to adult varied from 26 to 37 days (average 34). Mites took 7 to 10 days (average 8.3) to complete the egg development. The larval stage (including the quiescence) lasted 3 to 5 days (average 4.2). The duration of nymphal development (including the quiescence) lasted 11 to 18 days (average 14.2) including protonymph 4 to 5 days (average 4.4), deutonymph 4 to 6 days (average 4.8) and tritonymph 3 to 7 days (average 4.9). The total duration for postembryonic pre-adult development was 21 to 33 days (average 27.0).

Other habitats — Engelbrecht (1986) based his redescription of Paralamellobates ceylanicus on specimens collected from soil, a cultivated field planted with sugar cane and from bitter orange fruit and from leaves of pumpkin ( Faria occidentalis ). Paralamellobates misella (as P. shoutedeni ) was collected from a nest of a warbler, Prinia inornata Sykes , in West Bengal (Gupta 1989).

Paralamellobates bengalensis — Ramani and Haq (1984) studied the biology of Paralamellobates bengalensis associated with the weed species Eupatorium odoratum (= Chromolaena odorata (L.) R.M. King & H. Rob.), and found both adults and immatures feeding on the ventral surface of older leaves of this plant. Haq and Ramani (1984) studied development of this species on leaves of Dioscorea alata L., the water yam, in the laboratory at a temperature of 29 C° and 80 % humidity. They recorded development from egg to adult of 27 days, with a consistent premoult period of 2 days. All active stages feed on the undersurface of leaves, and the authors considered that they possibly disseminated fungal spores. As indicated above, they noted the deposition of spermatophores. Unpublished illustrations of the larval and nymphal stages (N. Ramani pers. comm.) show morphology very similar to that in P. misella .

Neena and Haq (1991) recorded gregarine protozoans in the guts of 25 of the 200 adult Paralamellobates bengalensis they examined.

ABLE 3: Summary of analysis of character state polarities in Paralamellobates and selected higher taxa. Characters in boldface are considered apomorphic. Abbreviations: Ng NBP, notogaster without posterior tectum; NgTLP, notogaster with posterior tectum; NgTLPO, notogaster with overlapping posterior tectum; A, porose areas; S, saccules; DDC, companion seta d of genua I-III and tibiae I-IV absent throughout ontogeny (el); present to the tritonymph (n3); present to the adult (Ad). (Data from: Behan-Pelletier (2001), Behan-Pelletier and Walter (2013), Behan-Pelletier et. (2005), Coetzee (1987), Norton and Behan-Pelletier (2009), Seniczak and Seniczak (2014).

Figures

FIGURE 3: Paralamellobates misella (Berlese). Differential interference contrast microscope images of adults: A – gnathosoma ventral view, with arrow to axillary saccule; B – prodorsum (4 layers combined), with arrow to bothridium; C – detail of prodorsum, with arrow to rostrum; D – lateral region of coxisternum with arrow to lateral ridges; E – posterior region showing single pair of anal setae and overlapping lobes of posterior notogastral tectum (indicated by arrow). Scale bars: A-D = 20.

FIGURE 8: Bayesian tree of brachypyline mites using 18S sequences; Paralamellobates misella (Berlese) is indicated by dot.