The external morphology of rare soil inhabiting mites belonging to the monobasic family Stigmocheylidae (Acari: Prostigmata) is examined, based on the material from North America. Homologies of all studied morphological structures with those of other prostigmatic mites are established. An expanded taxonomic diagnosis of the family is provided for the first time. Two new species from North America are described, Stigmocheylus americanus sp. nov. and S. oberon sp. nov. These species differ from S. brevisetus Berlese, 1910, the type species of the genus, by the longer body 510 and 630 µm, respectively (vs. 380 in S. brevisetus) and by the absence of setae c3. Stigmocheylus oberon sp. nov. differs from S. americanus sp. nov. by the absence of g2 (vs. its presence in S. americanus), and by leg setation: setae ve'and ve” on tarsi II–III; v' on tibia IV, l1, l”1, v'1 on genu I, l” on telofemur III, l'on telofemur IV, l” on basifemur I, d on basifemur II, and 4c on coxa IV are present (vs. absence of these setae in S. americanus sp. nov.). All three species differ from S. pilosus (Soliman et Zaher, 1975), the second formerly known species of this family, by having the non segmented peritremes.
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1 June 2008
A Review of the Mite Family Stigmocheylidae Berlese (Acari: Prostigmata)
Andre V. Bochkov
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External morphology
mites
new species
S. americanus
S. oberon
Stigmocheylidae
Stigmocheylus