Lepidozetes bavaricus, Weigmann, Gerd, 2013

Weigmann, Gerd, 2013, The genus Lepidozetes Berlese, 1910 (Acari: Oribatida: Tegoribatidae) in Europe with description of a new species, Zootaxa 3722 (4), pp. 493-500 : 497-499

Lepidozetes bavaricus n. sp.

Material examined. (1) Valley of river Altmühl (Altmühltal) in Bavaria (South-Germany), near Obereichstätt (11.132°E, 48.896°N). Dry northern river slope with southern exposure. Pine and beech stand, from litter layer, pH 6.1: One specimen.

(2) Same locality. Moss cushion on stone in a dry grassland; fully sun-exposed: Six specimens.—The holotype and one paratype are deposited in the Senckenberg Museum für Naturkunde, Görlitz, Germany.

Description of the adult. Diagnosis. Body length 340–387 µm; anterior border of lamellar shield rounded; sensillus with slender claviform head and moderately long stalk; tutorium angulated, distally rounded; Rostral seta fine, short (about 22 µm), nearly smooth; setiform notogastral setae slightly barbed, length about 8–20 µm; interlamellar setae small (12 µm).

General characters. Body length 340–387 µm (females 373–387, n=4; males 340–370, n=2); length-width ratio about 1.5:1. Colour pale brown.

Prodorsum. Surface smooth; rostrum rounded, edge more or less protruding; lamellar shield rounded distally and laterally and constricted at the base (fig. 5a). Setiform lamellar seta slightly barbed, about 40 µm long; interlamellar seta small, fine, about 12 µm long; sensillus about 40 µm long, with slender claviform granulated head and moderately long stalk. Tutorium angulate with long upper part and shorter part ventrad ending in the midst of insertion of leg I and rostrum tip (fig. 6), distally rounded. Rostral seta fine, short (about 22 µm), nearly smooth.

Notogaster. Surface smooth. Anterior border overlapping posterior part of prodorsum with bothridia and insertion of interlamellar setae (fig. 5a); dorsophragmata large, triangular- rounded, subparallel, conjuncted by semicircular lobe; movable pteromorphs protruding anteriorly, latero-anterior edge slightly concave (fig. 6). Ten pairs of fine setiform setae slightly barbed, length about 8–20 µm. Porose areas roundish, Aa and A1 largest (diameter about 10 µm); five pairs of fissures.

Podosoma and ventral region. Pedotecta (Ptc) I well developed, upper posterior border concave (fig. 6), Ptc II small. Custodium tooth moderately long, slightly bent sidewards. Formula of epimeral setae 3-1-3-3, fine setae short (about 6–17 µm; 1c and 4c longest); six pairs of genital setae, 2 on anterior margin; one pair of aggenital setae, two pairs of anal setae (about 10 µm), three pairs of adanal setae, ad 1 and ad 2 inserted parallel to posterior border of ventral plate, ad 3 and fissure iad lateral and parallel to anal shield (fig. 5b).

Legs. All tarsi hetero-tridactylous. Formula of leg setation not studied in detail.

Etymology. The species name bavaricus refers to the German federal state Bavaria (Bayern, in German), the origin of the type series.

Ecology. The slopes of the river Altmühl belong to the driest and warmist places in Germany, especially the northern slope with high sun exposure. Provisionally the species is evaluated as thermophilous.

Discussion. The new species is clearly distinct from the first European species Lepidozetes singularis (including L. conjunctus ). Main differential characters are the following ( singularis -characters in brackets): Body length 340–390 µm (versus 380–510 µm); tutorium distally rounded (versus distally with acute dens); rostral setae fine, nearly smooth, about 22 µm long (versus stout, bushily barbed, about 25–38 µm).

“ Lepidozetes singularis ” sensu Bayartogtokh and Aoki (1999) is similar to L. bavaricus n. sp. in length and some more characters, but with a sharply pointed anterolateral edge of the pteromorph which is absent in the new species.