Afroleius chistyakovi (Acari: Oribatida: Punctoribatidae), a new oribatid mite species from Malawi

About author:

Sergey G. Ermilov, e-mail

X-BIO Institute, Tyumen State University, Tyumen, Russia

Acknowledgments:

I cordially thank Drs. J. Starý (České Budějovice, Czech Republic), P. Baňař (Brno, Czech Republic) and P. Hlaváč (Prague, Czech Republic) for their long-term cooperation in the study of soil inverte¬brates from Malawi. I also thank D. Shpindyuk (Tyumen, Russia) for SEM micrographs. The presented research was supported by the Czech Academy of Sciences (Research grant No. RVO 60077344) and the cooperative agreement No. FEWZ-2021-0004 from the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

Annotation:

A new species, Afroleius chistyakovi sp.n. (Oribatida: Punctoribatidae), is described from sifted plant litter collected in a highland forest of Malawi. This is the first record of oribatid mite genus Afroleius Mahunka, 1984 in Malawi. The new spe­cies differs from a related species, Afroleius valerieae, in body size, surface pattern and depressions, as well as the length and morphology of the rostral and interlamellar setae.

DOI: 10.21684/0132-8077-2022-30-1-3-8

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