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 Ameroseius avium Karg, 1976 Ameroseius avium Karg, 1976: 541. Type depository. Museum fuer Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany; Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary. Type locality and habitat. Chile, Tarapaca Region, Azapa, edge of marsh habitat, under rocks. Comparative material. Chile : 1 ♀ (HNHM: Meso-636, holotype ) - 23. 11. 1965 , Azapa (Prov. Tarapaca ), unter Steinen , am Bach und am voellig ausgetrockneten Bachbett ; 2 ♀♀ (ZMB: 39921, 39922, paratypes ) - 23. 11. 1965 , Azapa (Prov. Tarapaca ), unter Steinen , am Bach und am voellig ausgetrockneten Bachbett , 2998, 2999 ; 1 ♀ (ZMB: 39923, paratype ) - 30. 10. 1965 , El Manzano (Prov. Santiago ), unter bluehenden Straeuchern im Tal , 3000 . Remarks. I examined the holotype (♀) and three paratype females of the original series of Karg (1976) who has not specified the number of type specimens. All specimens examined are in poor condition for study, and only dorsal shield in those specimens can be examined with some difficulty. I was unable to check most of the characters on the venter of the idiosoma satisfactorily, especially the posterior margin of the sternal shield and the placement of st3. This species is very similar to those in the genus Sinoseius in that it has pinnate dorsal setae, curved epistome, oblong and anteriorly bilobed sternal shield, five pairs of opisthogastric setae, enlarged cheliceral digits and subcircular anal shield. Therefore, the systematic placement of Ameroseius avium in Ameroseius should be considered provisional and questionable. Karg (1976) did not state the number of dorsal shield setae; 26 pairs of setae were depicted in the original illustration, but I observed the normal complement of 29 pairs of the setae in the holotype. Karg overlooked some marginally inserted setae in medial part of the dorsal shield, and also overestimated the length of some very short setae inserted in the marginal region.