Scutopalus Den Heyer, 1980

Rocha, Matheus Dos Santos, Skvarla, Michael Joseph & Ferla, Noeli Juarez, 2013, A new species of Scutopalus (Acari: Cunaxidae: Cunaxoidinae) from Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil with a key to world species, Zootaxa 3734 (1) : -

Scutopalus Den Heyer, 1980 b

Historical review. Den Heyer (1980a) separated cunaxid mites possessing a three-jointed palp from the known subfamilies of Cunaxidae by creating the subfamily Cunaxoidinae. Den Heyer (1980a) defined two tribes: Cunaxoidini and Pulaeini: Cunaxoidini contains the genera Cunaxoides sensu Baker & Hoffmann, 1948 Scutopalus Den Heyer, 1980 , Denheyernaxoides Smiley, 1992 , Bunaxella Den Heyer, 2009 , Dunaxeus Den Heyer, 2009 , Funaxopsis Den Heyer, 2009 , and Qunaxella Den Heyer, 2009 , while Pulaeini contains the genera Neocunaxoides Smiley, 1975 , Pulaeus Den Heyer, 1979 and Lupaeus Castro & Den Heyer, 2009 .

The genus Scutopalus was described based on specimens collected in the Ethiopian region and were distinguished from the other genera by having well-demarcated dorsal and ventral shields, sub terminal pointed process on palp tibiotarsal claw absent, small teeth on palp tibiotarsal claw absent, and cheliceral setae present. Smiley (1992) considered Scutopalus a junior synonym of Neocunaxoides claiming that morphological differences do not justify the erection of this genus. Castro and Den Heyer (2009) moved Pulaeus trepidus (= Neocunaxoides trepidus ) (Kuznetzov & Livshitz, 1979) to Scutopalus . Neocunaxoides makapalus (Corpuz-Raros, 1996) , Neocunaxoides philippinensis (Corpuz-Raros, 1996) , Neocunaxoides unguianalis (Tseng, 1980) , and Neocunaxoides rugosus (Corpuz-Raros, 1996) are regarded as belonging to Scutopalus as they possess five sts on palp femurogenu and an extensive dorsal shield (as suggested by Skvarla, 2011). Den Heyer (2011) indicated the genus that now includes twelve species.