Spinosissuropoda Hirschmann, 1979

Kontschán, Jenő & Starý, Josef, 2013, New Uropodine mites from Tanzania (Acari: Mesostigmata), Zootaxa 3683 (3), pp. 267-279 : 271-274

Genus Spinosissuropoda Hirschmann, 1979

Uropoda (Spinosissuropoda) Hirschmann, 1979: 58 .

Type species. Discotrachytes spinosissima Berlese, 1916 , by original designation.

Diagnosis. Idiosoma pear-shaped, marginal and dorsal shields fused anteriorly. Dorsal shield ornamented by oval pits. All dorsal setae short, smooth and needle-like. Marginal shield reduced posteriorly and bearing long and wide setae. Genital shield of female linguliform, covered by oval pits and bearing wide anterior process. Peritreme hookshaped, apical part situated on a small protuberance. Hypostomal setae h1 long, lanceolate, distally pointed. Corniculi small and horn-like, internal malae marginally pilose. Fixed digit of chelicera longer than movable digit, internal sclerotised nodes absent. Pedofossae reduced. Leg I without ambulacral claws.

Notes on the genus. Hirschmann (1979) established the subgenus Spinosissuropoda to accommodate members of the spinosissima species group in the genus Uropoda Latreille. Spinosissuropoda differs from Uropoda in several characters ( Table 2 ), including the shape of the idiosoma, marginal setae, size of the marginal shield, and internal malae. However Hirschmann (1993), WiŠniewski (1993) and WiŠniewski & Hirschmann (1993) placed all Spinosissuropoda species back into the genus Uropoda , re-establishing the spinosissima species group, which contains six African species and another three from Neotropical region ( Brazil and Paraguay).

The African and the Neotropical species differ from each other sufficiently to regard the African species as the genus Spinosissuropoda, and the Neotropical species as members of some other undescribed genus. Spinosissuropoda a valid genus of seven species, and seems to be endemic to the Afrotropical Region.The Neotropical species require a thorough revision, which is beyond the scope of this work. Hence, in the meantime we place the Neotropical species back into the genus Uropoda until this revision is made— U. brasiliensis ( Sellnick, 1962) , U. disetosa Hirschmann, 1972 and U. similibrasiliensis Hirschmann, 1972 .

Key to the females of Spinosissuropoda species, on the basis of illustrations in Hirschmann (1981) and Zirngiebl-Nicol (1972).

1. Genital shield with anterior process....................................................................... 2

- Genital shield without anterior process............................................. S. spinossisima ( Berlese, 1916)

2. Anterior genital process crown-like....................................................................... 3

- Anterior genital process with two lateral horns.............................................................. 4

3. Dorsal shield with large oval pits, St4 five times as long as than St2, anterior margin of crown-like process with several narrow spines, St1 covered by genital process................................ S. solarissima ( Hirschmann, 1981) comb. nov.

- Dorsal shield with small oval pits, St4 twice as long as St2, anterior margin of crown-like process with few wider spines, St1 not covered by genital process........................................................... S. tanzanica sp. nov.

4. Lateral horn of anterior genital process short, spine-like....................................................... 5

- Lateral horn of anterior genital process long, horn-like........................................................ 6

5. Surface of sternal shield between coxae II covered by oval pits, marginal parts of dorsal shield ornamented by oval pits................................................................... S. ancoraesimilis ( Hirschmann, 1981) comb. nov.

- Surface of sternal shield between coxae II smooth, entire dorsal shield smooth..... S. pocsi ( Hirschmann, 1981) comb. nov.

6. Apical part of the lateral horns of genital process peaked, horn-like............ S. ancorae ( Hirschmann, 1981) comb. nov.

- Apical part of the lateral horns of genital process rounded, wing-like............. S. alata ( Hirschmann, 1981) comb. nov.

Tables

TABLE 2. Distinguishing characters between the genera Spinossisuropoda and Uropoda.

	Spinossisuropoda	Uropoda
Shape of idiosoma	pear-shaped	oval
Marginal setae	long and wide	sort and needle-like
Pedofossae	absent	present
Marginal shield	reduced caudally	not reduced caudally
Genital shield of female	with wide anterior process	without anterior process
Setae h1	lanceolate	needle-like
Internal malae	with two lateral rounded protuberances at base	without lateral protuberances at base