Caesarodispus Mahunka, 1977

Khaustov, Alexander A., 2014, A review of myrmecophilous mites of the family Microdispidae (Acari, Heterostigmatina) of Western Siberia, ZooKeys 454, pp. 13-28 : 18-19

Taxon classification Animalia Prostigmata Microdispidae

Genus Caesarodispus Mahunka, 1977

Type species.

Caesarodispus gaius Mahunka, 1977, by original designation.

Diagnosis.

Female. Gnathosoma dorsally with two pairs of setae. Pharyngeal pumps 1 and 3 vestigial, pharyngeal pump 2 large, transversely striated. Prodorsum usually almost completely covered by tergite C. Cupules ia and ih small, usually round. Two pairs of pseudanal setae (ps2 absent). Posterior margin of posterior sternal fig entire. Leg I distinctly shorter than leg II. Tibiotarsus without claw; pinnaculum absent; setae s of tibiotarsus I present. Trochanter IV anterodorsally without spine-like process.

The genus Caesarodispus currently includes nine species distributed in the Holarctic region: Caesarodispus gaius , Caesarodispus samsinaki (Mahunka, 1967), comb. n., Caesarodispus minutus (Sevastianov, 1981), Caesarodispus acuminatus (Sevastianov, 1981), Caesarodispus klepzigi Khaustov & Moser, 2008, Caesarodispus pusillus Khaustov, 2009, Caesarodispus brevipes Mahunka, 1986, Caesarodispus modestus (Berlese, 1903), and Caesarodispus shandizensis Loghmani & Hajiqanbar, 2014. All species of the genus Caesarodispus phoretic on various ants, or inhabit their nests. Loghmani et al. (2014) discussed distribution and host specificity of the genus Caesarodispus and provided key to eight species.