Ericotrombidium tarentolae ( Vercammen-Grandjean & Langston, 1976 )

Stekolnikov, Alexandr A., Er-Rguibi, Omar, Laghzaoui, El-Mustapha, Aglagane, Abdessamad & Mouden, El Hassan El, 2021, New locality and host records of two chigger mite species (Acariformes: Trombiculidae) from Morocco, Acarologia 61 (3), pp. 538-547 : 540-541

Ericotrombidium tarentolae ( Vercammen-Grandjean & Langston, 1976) ( Fig. 1A – C )

Leptotrombidium (Ericotrombidium) tarentolae Vercammen-Grandjean & Langston (1976) (original designation)

Ericotrombidium tarentolae Stekolnikov (2018b)

Material examined — Five larvae ( ZIN 17114 – 17118) from Quedenfeldtia moerens (Chabanaud) ( Squamata : Sphaerodactylidae ), MOROCCO, Agadir province, Bigoudine town, Barrage Abdelmoumen, 30 Mar. 2019, collected by Omar Er-Rguibi, El-Mustapha Laghzaoui, and Abdessamad Aglagane.

Type deposition — According to the original description ( Vercammen-Grandjean & Langston 1976), type series of this species was deposited in Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale ( MRAC, Tervuren, Belgium). Currently, holotype and 53 paratypes are deposited in MHNG (Stekolnikov 2019), while only 11 non-type specimens from the type locality are deposited in MRAC ( Stekolnikov 2018b).

Diagnosis — SIF = 7BS-B-3-2111.0000; fPp = B/B/NNN(b); fD = 2H-8-6-6-4-2-(0-2);

DS = 28 – 30; V = 24 – 26; NDV = 52 – 55; Ip = 846 – 893 (765 – 800 according to original description); scutum rectangular, with sparse large puncta; flagelliform sensilla covered with small cilia in proximal half and with 15 – 17 branches in distal half; sensillary (trichobothrial) bases at level or anterior to level of PL (by 3 – 5 µm); PL> AL> AM; marginal setae of 1 st row slightly longer than humeral setae (36 – 40 vs. 31 – 34 µm); microtarsala I ε () distal to tarsala

I (ω); microtarsala II (ε) at level of tarsala II (ω); tarsala II thin, with inflated tip (bulbapex); distal tibiala II (φ) expanded, much thicker than proximal tibiala. Standard measurements given in Table 1.

Remarks — This species was known only from its type locality ( Morocco, Casablanca)

and the type host, Tarentola mauritanica (L.) ( Squamata : Phyllodactylidae ). Here, it is for the first time recorded in Agadir Province and on Quedenfeldtia moerens .

The difference by the lengths of legs between the new material and the type series according to the original description (846 – 893 vs. 765 – 800) could be an example of intraspecific variation or of a bias caused by differences in the mode of measuring, which can present specifically in the case of legs’ length (Stekolnikov et al. 2019).

Noteworthy is the presence of the tarsala II having inflated tip in E. tarentolae . According to the observation of Loomis (1964), it is a characteristic of the chigger species from different genera parasitizing lizards. He suggested that the expanded tip of this chemoreceptor plays a role in the detection of the lizard hosts.

Figures

Figure 1 Ericotrombidium tarentolae(Vercammen-Grandjean et Langston, 1976), larva ZIN 17115 (A – C): A – scutum; B – genu and tibia II, dorsal aspect; C – tarsus II, dorsal aspect.Neotrombicula oryctiTaufflieb, 1960, larva ZIN 17121: D – scutum. Abbreviations: AL – anterolateral scutal seta; AM – anteromedian scutal seta; PL – posterolateral scutal seta; S – sensillum. Scale bars: A, D – 50 μm; B, C – 20 μm.