Papillacarus incompletus (Mahunka, 1985)

Schatz, H. & Schuster, R., 2012, First Records Of Lohmanniidae (Acari: Oribatida) From The Bermuda Islands, Acarologia 52 (3), pp. 247-257 : 252

Papillacarus incompletus (Mahunka, 1985)

Vepracarus incompletus: Mahunka 1985b: 126 , figs. 6- 11; Balogh and Balogh 1987; 336, pl. 13 A; 1988, 54: pl. 34 A-D; 2002a: 66; 2002b: pl. 118:5.

Dimensions: adult (n=2) 365 – 370 x 160 µm. Colour light brown.

The specimens found in Bermuda were identified by comparison with the type specimens of this species. The populations of this species from St. Lucia, Antilles, and Bermuda are conspecific. The suture between the anal and adanal plates is undoubtedly complete, but weakly developed in the posterior part .

Papillacarus incompletus is similar to P. hirsutus (Aoki, 1961) , which also has a spiculate secretion, setae with long cilia and strong neotrichy on the posterior part of the notogaster. The main differences between species are in the number of branches on sensilli ( P. incompletus : 15 – 20, P. hirsutus : 13 – 14), the length of the notogastral setae, ( P. incompletus : notogastral setae of different lengths, posterior marginal setae longer, P. hirsutus : all notogastral setae short), the epimeral setal formula ( P. incompletus : 9-4-3-4, P. hirsutus : 7-4-3-4), and length of adanal setae ( P. incompletus : long, P. hirsutus : short).

A synonymy of Vepracarus with Papillacarus is supposed by Lee (1985) which is accepted by Colloff and Halliday (1998) and Subías (2004). Balogh and Balogh (1987) separate the two taxa by number and shape of the posterior notogastral setae: Papillacarus species have less (8-17) neotrichal setae, setiform and ciliate, Vepracarus species bear more (20- 50) neotrichal setae on the pygidium, with penicillate or arboriform shape.

Record from Bermuda: BE 184: 2 adults .

General distribution: St. Lucia, Lesser Antilles, at Castries, Vigie Point, in litter of a rocky forest, and in litter accumulated in rock crevices ( Mahunka 1985b); Mexico, Quintana Roo: Sian Ka’an, lowland inundation forest, in leaf litter, moss and epiphytes ( Vazquez 1999); Cuba, Prov. Habana, Nina Boaeita, in soils of livestock farming ( Palacios-Vargas and Socarras 1993, Socarras and Palacios-Vargas 1999); first record for Bermuda.