Neocypholaelaps favus Ishikawa, 1968

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

Neocypholaelaps favus Ishikawa, 1968

Plates 64 , 65 , 66

Neocypholaelaps favus Ishikawa, 1968: 38.

Neocypholaelaps favus . - Ishikawa 1972: 100; Haragsim et al. 1978: 57; Baker and Delfinado-Baker 1985: 232; Karg 1993: 221; Moraes and Narita 2010: 43; Fenďa and Lukáš 2014: 173; Kontschán et al. 2015: 243.

Ameroseius bregetovae Livshits & Mitrofanov, 1975: 463. Syn. n.

Neocypholaelaps apicola . - Kontschán et al. 2015: 238. Misidentification.

Type depository.

Of Neocypholaelaps favus - Biological Laboratory, Matsuyama Shinonome Junior College, Matsuyama, Japan; of Ameroseius bregetovae - Nikita Botanical Gardens, National Scientific Center, Yalta, Crimea, Russia (the type specimens not found in the collection and probably lost, based on personal communication from Alex Khaustov).

Type locality and habitat.

Of Neocypholaelaps favus - Japan, Matsuyama, Shikoku, on European honey bee, Apis mellifera ( Hymenoptera ); of Ameroseius bregetovae - Russia, Crimea, Alupka, in litter.

Comparative material.

Japan: 1 ♀ (CKI, paratype) - 20. 4. 1968, Matsuyama, K. Ishikawa .

Published and verified material from Slovakia.

Ipeľská Kotlina Basin: Veľký Krtíš Town. Malé Karpaty Mts.: Bratislava Capital, Devín Settlement, Fialková Dolina Valley. Podunajská Rovina Flatland: Blatná Na Ostrove Village. All records published by Fenďa and Lukáš (2014).

Remarks.

In the original descriptive paper on Neocypholaelaps apicola from Pakistan by Delfinado-Baker and Baker (1983), the main character for distinguishing this species from the other congeners was based on the reduced length of some setae in central region of the dorsal shield (j4-j6 and z5 in female, and j5 in male and deutonymph), when they are compared with other dorsal shield setae. Unfortunately, those authors did not provide any metric data for these setae and a comparison with the most related species, Neocypholaelaps favus . Later, in their identification key to the species of Neocypholaelaps , Baker and Delfinado-Baker (1985) misinterpreted the form of dorsal setae in N. favus . They separated N. favus from N. apicola (see their couplet 3) by the presence of leaf-like dorsal setae in N. favus , whereas those setae are regularly thickened in this species.

A relatively large number of Neocypholaelaps favus collected from debris on the bottom of bee hives in Slovakia enabled an adequate examination of the morphology of this species. The length and form of some medially inserted setae (except j5) showed a relatively high degree of variability. Setae j4, j6 and z5 are more or less abbreviated and narrowed in almost all Slovakian females of N. favus . But mostly in freshly moulted, albescent and weakly sclerotised specimens, these setae are usually better developed, relatively larger and thicker than in the older, brown and strongly sclerotised adult females (rarely j4 and j6 are subequal with j3 and J2). I have compared the Slovakian specimens with a paratype female of N. favus (kindly sent me by Kazuo Ishikawa), and I could not find any important differences. In N. favus , j5 are the shortest and often subequal in adults of both sexes, and they can be smooth or with fine pilosity.

Based on the chaetotaxy described above, and a series of photos taken from holotype of closely related Neocypholaelaps apicola received from Debbie Creel and Ronald Ochoa (USDA ARS, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Systematic Entomology Laboratory), I consider Neocypholaelaps favus and N. apicola as two distinct species, and Neocypholaelaps bregetovae n. comb. as a synonym of N. favus . In addition, Neocypholaelaps apicola sensu Kontschán et al. (2015) is considered here as a misidentification of N. favus .

The sperm induction structures of the female, especially the structure of sacculus foemineus and associated tubuli annulati, were considered to be important for separation of some Neocypholaelaps species ( Neocypholaelaps ampullula , Neocypholaelaps cocos , Neocypholaelaps indicus , Neocypholaelaps novaehollandiae and Neocypholaelaps stridulans ) in taxonomic work of Evans (1963a). Because of the weak sclerotization of these structures, it is not easy to discern the sacculus in Neocypholaelaps favus , especially in dark brown mature specimens (Plate 66A ). In some freshly moulted and weakly sclerotised immature females of N. favus I could detect the sacculus foemineus as small, conspicuous and well outlined pear-shaped structure having well developed neck-like process that is connected with tubuli annulati (Plate 66B ); the tubuli are free and enter the narrowed part of the sacculus separately. In adult females with egg, or in females after oviposition, the sacculus foemineus with neck-like process was not detectable in any of examined specimens (probably due to its conspicuous expansion), and the tubuli annulati had their bases well distant from each other, and much more separated when compared with immature females of N. favus .

Figures

Plate 64. Neocypholaelaps favus, female, dorsal idiosoma.

Plate 65. Neocypholaelaps favus. A Dorsal idiosoma with legs, female B Dorsal idiosoma, male C Sternal shield, female D Setae j 1 and epistome, female E Cheliceral digits, female F Anal shield G Hypostome, ventral view.

Plate 66. Neocypholaelaps favus, sperm induction structures in immature female. A spermathecal ducts (tubuli annulati) B spermathecal ducts associated with sacculus foemineus.