Redescription of females of Otopheidomenis zalelestes Treat, 1955 (Acari: Otopheidomenidae) including details of the leg chaetotaxy, sigilla, and spermatheca

Prasad, Vikram

doi:10.22073/pja.v9i2.58676

Redescription of females of Otopheidomenis zalelestes Treat, 1955 (Acari: Otopheidomenidae) including details of the leg chaetotaxy, sigilla, and spermatheca

Author

Vikram Prasad

7247 Village Square Drive, West Bloomfield, MI 48322, USA; E-mail: vikramprasad551@gmail.com

10.22073/pja.v9i2.58676

Abstract

The adult female of Otopheidomenis zalelestes is redescribed and illustrated with many photographs based on three non-paratype females collected by Treat in 1955 and in 1966 on museum-preserved specimens of a female and male of the noctuid moth Zale lunata Drury that were donated to the author's collection by Treat decades ago. The chaetotaxy of genua and tibiae I-IV and several other details, including the sigilla and distance measurements between the paired dorsal idiosomal setae never discussed before, are included. These are compared with several paratype females of this species borrowed from the Ohio State University Acarology Laboratory (OSAL), Columbus, OH. This included a female showing the tubular laelapid type insemination system (spermatheca) and a male showing the spermatodactyl and basifemur of leg II showing a hump-like projection having a tiny seta on it which are described and illustrated.

Keywords

Chaetotaxy

Noctuidae

redescription

spermatodactyl

Zale

O. zalelestes