Aculops thymi ( Nalepa, 1889 )

Kadono, Fujio, Takei, Madoka, Gotoh, Tetsuo, Kubota, Kenji, Hörweg, Christoph & Kagiwada, Satoshi, 2022, Supplementary descriptions of seven eriophyoid mite species (Acari: Eriophyoidea) recovered from the Viennese Nalepa collection and comparison with Japanese species, Acarologia 62 (2), pp. 273-301 : 278-280

Aculops thymi ( Nalepa, 1889)

Phyllocoptes thymi Nalepa, 1889 pp. 137–138 , 152–153 pl. 6 f. 4–6.

Phyllocoptes thymi: Canestrini, 1892 pp. 689–690 .

Vasates thymi: Roivainen, 1950 p. 27 ; Farkas, 1965 p. 82.

Aculops thymi: Amrine & Stasny, 1994 ; Szydło et al., 2010 p. 148– 150 f. 7–8.

( Figs. 4 , 5 , Table 1)

Female (n=11) — Body fusiform, 167 (153-178), 57 (51-62) wide, 56 (53-57) thick.

Gnathosoma 19 (12-30), projecting obliquely downwards; chelicerae 17 (13-24) slightly curved down.

Prodorsal shield 40 (37-44) including frontal lobe 6 (5-8), obtuse triangular with a blunt point, 49 (42-60) wide, subtriangular; frontal lobe 5–8, obtuse triangular with a blunt point. Prodorsal shield smooth, a low bulging centrally and shallow furrow along with the side of shield; scapular tubercles 36 (33-39) apart on the posterior shield margin; scapular setae sc 9 (7-13, n=11), divergent to rear.

Leg I 31 (27-36), femur 10 (7-13), femoral setae bv 8 (5–12, n=7) on anterior 2/5 from the base of femur; genu 5 (4-5), genual setae l ″ 12 (9-18, n=7); tibia 7 (6-8), paraxial tibial setae l ′

3 (3-4, n=8) on anterior 1/4 from the base of tibia; tarsus 6 (4-7), tarsal solenidion ω 7 (5-8), slightly curved, with knob apically, tarsal empodium em 6 (3-8), simple, 4–rayed.

Leg II 29 (26-32): femur 8 (7-10), femoral setae bv 6 (5–6, n=6) on anterior 2/5 from the base of femur; genu 5 (4-6), genual setae l ″ 6 (4-8, n=7); tibia 6 (5-7); tarsus 7 (5-8), tarsal solenidion ω 7 (7-10), strongly curved, with knob apically, tarsal empodium em 4 (3-5), simple, 4–rayed.

Coxisternal plates smooth; prosternal apodeme entire, distinct. Anterior setae on coxisternum I 1b 5 (3-7, n=7), 10 (9-11) apart, far from proximal setae 1a on coxisternum I, 1a 6 (4-9, n=8), 9 (6-10) apart, a little ahead of line through proximal setae 2a on coxisternum II, proximal setae 2a 17 (13-21, n=7), 25 (20-25) apart.

External genitalia 13 (9-15), 21 (19-22) wide; coverflap subtriangular, with 6-10 longitudinal striae; setae 3a 7 (6-8, n=8), 15 (15-16) apart. Coxigenital region with 3-9 semiannuli, microtuberculate.

Opisthosoma with 21–26 dorsal and 50–58 ventral annuli, dorsal annuli smooth, ventral annuli with ellipsoidal microtubercles on the margin. Opisthosomal setae c2 6 (5-10, n=9), 50 (44-59) apart on 9–14th annulus; d 16 (7-26, n=6), 34 (25-39) apart on 20–26th annulus; e 7 (4-12, n=10), 20 (18-22) apart on 26–38th annulus; f 7 (5-10, n=10), 20 (18-22) apart on 5–6th annulus from rear; h1 4 (3-4, n=8), 7 (4-10) apart and h2 30 (27-32, n=2), 11 (10-12) apart.

Male — Not found.

Specimens examined — 11 females on 11 microscopic slides of inventory nos. NHMW29903/1- 13 from vial no. 340 and NHMW29904/1-5 from vial no. 341 in Box TU from the Nalepa mite collection deposited in the NHMW.

Host plant — Thymus serpyllum L.

Other host plants — Thymus vulgaris L. ( Kozłowski, 1983 ; Skoracka et al., 2005), Thymus praecox Opiz ( Szydło et al., 2010), Thymus callieri Berb. ex Velen. ( Chetverikov et al., 2021), Teucrium chamaedrys L. ( Amrine & Stasny, 1994) ( Lamiaceae ).

Type locality — Austria? (Nalepa Collection Locality. Unknown).

Distribution — Iceland ( Szydło et al., 2010), Italy ( Nalepa, 1898 ; Canestrini, 1892), Poland ( Kozłowski, 1983 ; Skoracka et al., 2005), Sweden ( Roivainen, 1950), Russia ( Chetverikov et al., 2021).

Remarks — According to Nalepa (1889), the mites were always found on erinea caused by Aceria thomasi on leaves of T. serpyllum . The range of body length and width Aculops of thymi ( Nalepa, 1889) (original data) were shorter than both that of the topotype specimens (present data) and that of specimens collected from Iceland ( Szydło et al., 2010). The measurements of all taxonomic characters except setae were not different between that of topotype specimens and that of specimens from Iceland, but the lengths of most setae of topotype specimens were relatively a little shorter than that of specimens from Iceland ( Table 1).

Figures

Figure 4 Drawing ofAculops thymi (Nalepa, 1889) (female). A – lateral view of body; B – dorsal view of body; C – ventral view of body; D – empodium; E – internal genitalia of female.

Figure 5 Phase-contrast light microscope images of Aculops thymi. A – dorsal view of body; B – lateral view of body; C – coxigenital region.