A revision of the family Ameroseiidae (Acari, Mesostigmata), with some data on Slovak fauna Author Masan, Peter Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dubravska cesta 9, 845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia uzaepema@savba.sk text ZooKeys 2017 2017-09-29 704 1 228 http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.704.13304 journal article http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.704.13304 1313-2970-704-1 111A101E74054C408F51693957A64D97 CB39FF8EFFA2FF8CFFBFFFA9FF94FF8B 1149838 Sinoseius lobatus Bai, Gu & Fang, 1995 Plates 73 , 74 , 75 Sinoseius lobatus Bai, Gu & Fang, 1995: 436. Sinoseius pinnatus Huhta & Karg, 2010: 335. Syn. n. Sinoseius pinnatus . - Fenďa and Lukas 2014 : 174. Type depository. Of Sinoseius lobatus - Institute of Endemic Disease Control, Ningxia Autonomous Region, Yinchuan, China; of Sinoseius pinnatus - Zoological Museum, University of Turku, Finland; Senckenberg Museum fuer Naturkunde, Goerlitz , Germany; Zoological Museum, University of Helsinki, Finland. Type locality and habitat. Of Sinoseius lobatus - China, Ningxia Autonomous Region, Haiyuan County, on long-tailed dwarf hamster, Cricetulus longicaudatus ( Mammalia , Rodentia , Cricetidae ); of Sinoseius pinnatus - Finland, Parainen, Sunnaberg, bottom of straw shed. Comparative material. Finland : 2 ♀♀ (ZMT: ACA.MES.FIN.3.654, holotype and paratype ) - 10. 10. 1982 , Parainen , Sunnaberg , bottom of straw shed, leg. P. T. Lehtinen (labelled Sinoseius pinnatus ) . Published and verified material from Slovakia . Cierna Hora Mts.: Veľky Folkmar Village, Ruzin Dam; Veľky Folkmar Village, Veľka Hoľa Cave ( Fenďa and Lukas 2014 , cited as Sinoseius pinnatus ). Remarks. The first European finding of the genus Sinoseius was that of Huhta and Karg (2010) from Finland (bottom of straw shed and grass in garden of old farm). Fenďa and Lukas (2014) found the species in a frozen nest of Sitta europaea Linnaeus, 1758 ( Aves , Passeriformes ), in a nest box, and in a soil sample from the dysphotic zone of a cave. I have compared the holotype and one paratype of Sinoseius pinnatus with the specimens reported from Slovakia by Fenďa and Lukas (2014) , and found that they are clearly conspecific. According to Huhta and Karg (2010) , Sinoseius lobatus and S. pinnatus can be distinguished by the features presented as follows: in S. lobatus , dorsal setae "remarkably long", j5 = j5-j6, j6> j6-J2, tines of dorsal setae strong (depicted seven pairs of tines), anal shield distinctly wider than long (length/width = 2:3), corniculi bifid; in S. pinnatus , dorsal setae "moderate" , j5 = 2/3 x j5-j6, j6 <j6-J2, tines of dorsal setae very thin (depicted up to 19 instead of 9-10 pairs of tines), anal shield only a little wider than long, corniculi distally trifid. It is clear that the distinctions made in the original descriptions and differential diagnosis of S. pinnatus by Huhta and Karg (2010) are based on characteristics that are misinterpreted (form of setae and corniculi) or vary considerably (relative length of dorsal setae, proportion of anal shield), and I do not hesitate to propose the synonymy of both mentioned species, although no types of S. lobatus were examined in this study. When compared the Slovak specimens of Sinoseius with quite adequate original illustrations of S. lobatus from China, it was not possible to find reliable distinguishing characters between them.