Epicriopsis palustris Karg, 1971

Masan, Peter, 2017, A revision of the family Ameroseiidae (Acari, Mesostigmata), with some data on Slovak fauna, ZooKeys 704, pp. 1-228 : 1

Epicriopsis palustris Karg, 1971

Plate 33

Epicriopsis palustris Karg, 1971b: VI/3.

Epicriopsis langei Livshits & Mitrofanov, 1975: 464. Syn. n.

Epicriopsis baloghi Kandil, 1978: 165. Syn. n.

Epicriopsis palustris . - Karg 1993: 222; Călugăr 2008: 169; Hajizadeh et al. 2013b: 68; Kazemi and Rajaei 2013: 67; Nemati et al. 2013: 20; Narita and Moraes 2016: 483.

Epicriopsis horridus . - Evans and Till 1979: 230; Iavorschi 1995: 61. Misidentifications.

Epicriopsis baloghi . - Khalili-Moghadam and Saboori 2016: 546; Narita and Moraes 2016: 483.

Epicriopsis langei . - Narita and Moraes 2016: 483.

Type depository.

Of Epicriopsis palustris - Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany; of Epicriopsis langei - Nikita Botanical Gardens, National Scientific Center, Yalta, Crimea, Russia (the type specimens not found and probably lost, based on personal communication from Alex Khaustov); of Epicriopsis baloghi - Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary; Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Moshtohor, Egypt.

Type locality and habitat.

Of Epicriopsis palustris - Germany, Kalktuffniedermoor Nature Reserve, Oechsen/ Rhön; leaf litter under hawthorn, Crataegus sp.; of Epicriopsis langei - Russia, Crimea, Nikita Botanical Gardens, in leaf litter, in park; of Epicriopsis baloghi - Hungary, Balassagyarmat, habitat stated.

Comparative material.

Germany: 1 ♀, 1 ♂ (ZMB: 40957, male holotype; ZMB: 40958, female paratype) - 16. 8. 1967, Kalktuffniedermoor / Rhön, Laubstreu unter Weissdorn , 2957, 2956 ; 1 ♂ (ZMB: 40959, paratype) - 5. 9. 1963, Mahndorf b. Halberstadt, Lehm, 2951. Greece: 3 ♀♀ (IZSAV) - 16. 8. 2005, Chalkidiki Peninsula, Sarti Village , bank of a small river under plane trees ( Platanus sp.), soil detritus with leaf fall, leg. P. Mašán. Hungary: 2 ♀♀ (HNHM: Meso-1348, Meso-1349, types) - May 1972, Balassagyarmat, leg. S. Mahunka , H-1395 (labelled Epicriopsis baloghi ); 1 ♀ (HNHM: Meso-1347, type) - May 1972, Balassagyarmat, leg. S. Mahunka, H-1394 (labelled Epicriopsis baloghi ). Iran: 1 ♀ (CJH) - Talesh , Guilan Province, soil sample, leg. and det. J. Hajizadeh (labelled Epicriopsis horridus ) . United Kingdom: 1 ♀ (BMNH: 1955.6.1.75) - 1951, Gorey , Jersey, grassland, leg. J. G. Sheals , det. G. O. Evans (labelled Epicriopsis horridus ).

Published material from Slovakia.

Košická Kotlina Basin: Valaliky Village ( Kováč et al. 1999).

New material from Slovakia.

Borská Nížina Lowland: 2 ♀♀ - 10. 4. 2004, Tomky Village , Dolná Studená Voda Reservoir, littoral alder forest ( Alnus sp.), wet leaf litter and soil detritus, altitude 175 m, leg. P. Mašán. Veľká Fatra Mts. : 4 ♀♀, 2 ♂♂ - 21. 7. 2004, Liptovské Revúce Village, Veľká Rakytová Dolina Valley, beech forest ( Fagion sylvaticae ), rocky canyon, moss, altitude 780 m, leg. P. Mašán.

Remarks.

Despite of the fact that Epicriopsis palustris was described in 1971 by Karg, it was not included in Karg‘s widely used monograph focused on identification of the European mesostigmatans, published in the same year ( Karg 1971a). The original description of this species contains an incorrect statement about the setation of ventrianal shield in female. I have carefully checked the ventrianal shield in the paratype female, and I could detect only three circum-anal setae standard for the genus, but not the two additional opisthogastric setae inserted on the lateral parts of the shield, as illustrated in fig. 7a (page 6) of Karg (1971b). Karg’s confusion is still respected by some authors, and it can be found in the most recent studies on the genus Epicriopsis up to now ( Narita and Moraes 2016), although E. palustris was adequately redescribed by Călugăr (2008), based on females and males from Romania.

Epicriopsis palustris was originally described based on the type specimens from Germany; subsequent findings of this species are reported from various countries in central and northern Europe (Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia). I have collected this species in the Mediterranean area of Greece (Sarti Village, Chalkidiki Peninsula), and checked relatively rich material from various parts of Iran. Under the name Epicriopsis horridus , the species is reported from Israel by Iavorschi (1995). Therefore, the species has clearly more expanded distribution area than previously expected. The specimens of E. palustris from Ukraine and Hungary were treated as a new species by Livshits and Mitrofanov (1975) and Kandil (1978), namely Epicriopsis langei and Epicriopsis baloghi . These authors apparently neglected the existence of E. palustris ; only Epicriopsis horridus and Epicriopsis rivus were compared with their newly described species in the differential diagnose, and no reference to E. palustris can be found there.

Tracking of the dorsal setae in European species of Epicriopsis , especially the shortest ones, may be quite tricky task due to heavy sclerotization and coarse sculpture of the dorsal shield. In published papers, the full complement of the dorsal shield setae has been correctly depicted only exceptionally and in limited number of illustrations. For instance, also in Epicriopsis palustris , we can see incomplete numbers of setae on the dorsal shield, given by various authors, namely 18 pairs by Karg (1971b) and Livshits and Mitrofanov (1975), 17 pairs by Kandil (1978), 16 pairs by Iavorschi (1995), and 21 pairs by Călugăr (2008). I have found 24 pairs of the dorsal shield setae, and the same number is depicted on a figure of misidentified female published by Evans and Till (1979).

Livshits and Mitrofanov (1975) described Epicriopsis langei on the base of a single female reportedly deposited at the Nikita Botanical Gardens, National Scientific Center, Yalta, Crimea. The species seems to be apparently conspecific with Epicriopsis palustris , when compared with the types from Germany and my own specimens from Slovakia, except the form of epistome (illustrated as pointed in E. langei , rounded in E. palustris ). I dare to say the epistome of E. langei is not correctly illustrated in the original illustrations, as in Epicriopsis mirabilis . I tried to obtain the type specimen of E. langei for examination, asking Alex Khaustov (at that time an acarologist of the National Scientific Center in Yalta) for help. Despite his great effort, the types were not found and are presumably lost.

Figures

Plate 33. Epicriopsis palustris, female, dorsal idiosoma.