Evaluation of morphological traits in Trhypochthoniidae with focus on Allonothrus, and morphology-molecule conflict in classification and phylogeny of Nothrina (Acari: Oribatida)
Author
Norton, Roy A.
State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, New York, USA.
Author
Ermilov, Sergey G.
Institute of Environmental and Agricultural Biology (X-BIO), University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia.
text
Zootaxa
2024
2024-12-23
5556
1
144
199
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5556.1.13
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.5556.1.13
1175-5326
14595083
0B13FEA8-21B7-4541-863F-B6EAAFEF3594
Leg setation in
Allonothrus
Our knowledge of setal ontogeny is based on an unpublished study of
Allonothrus giganticus
from
Kerala
,
India
. This name is a senior subjective synonym of
Allonothrus pararusseolus
Subías & Sarkar, 1982
from
Tripura
,
India
(
new synonymy
). The latter authors seem to have been unaware of
Haq’s (1978)
publication. One of us (R.A.N.) studied specimens from the
type
locality, identified by M. Haq, and had
A. giganticus
in culture. While the verbal description of
A. giganticus
is sufficiently detailed, the illustrations are somewhat misleading. As examples: seta
le
was drawn as hardly exceeding the rostral margin (his
Fig. 5
), but actually it far overhangs; the notogaster seems illustrated with 16 pairs of setae, but
h
3
is duplicated in dorsal and ventral views; genital setae appear to be uniform (his
Fig. 6
) but the posterior two pairs are simple, not barbed like the others. These and other features were more accurately illustrated by
Subías & Sarkar (1982)
. Neither paper mentioned a posterior notogastral cavity in the pygidial region, but an indistinct one is present in studied specimens.
Appendix 1 presents the ontogeny of setiform organs of
A. giganticus
.
Previously, a small part of this information was published by
Wang & Norton (1988)
. Notable traits include; the presence of four larval setae (including
cʺ
) on tibia I, with a final complement of six; the absence of
cʺ
from larval tibia II, with a final complement of five; the absence of several fundamental tarsal setae, including primilateral setae (
pl
) from tarsus I, primiventral setae (
pv
) from tarsi II and III, fastigial seta
ftʹ
from tarsus III, and antelateral (
a
) setae from tarsus IV. Regarding accessory setae, the iteral pair (
it
) are absent and the adult forms proximal setae on each tarsus: pair (
l
A
) on tarsus I;
l
A
ʹ on II, and pair (
v
A
) on II–IV.