A new species of Prasadiseius Wainstein, 1970 (Acari: Otopheidomenidae) from hawk moths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) in Peru

Abstract

During an expedition to Peru in August 2010, a new species of otopheidomenid mite, Prasadiseius incanus Prasad and Guanilo, n. sp. (Acari: Otopheidomenidae), was collected from Xylophanes fusimaculata (Felder, 1874) and Xylophanes undata Rothschild and Jordan, 1903 (Sphinghidae). The female and male of the new species are described using current nomenclature for the idiosomal chaetotaxy and illustrated in a series of photographs. A key for the identification of all species of the genus is provided. KEYWORDS -adults; description; new species; Peru COPYRIGHT Prasad et al.. Acarologia is under free license. This open-access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons-BY-NC-ND which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Description of immature stages of Prasadiseius cocytes (Prasad, 1970) (Acari: Otopheidomenidae)

“…The details of the materials and methods are given in Prasad et al (2011). In brief, a permit was obtained to collect and study sphingid moths in Peru.…”

“…A new species, Prasadiseius incanus Prasad and Guanilo 2011, has also been described recently from Peru (Prasad et al 2011) bringing the number of known species in this genus to eight.…”

“…Of the three genera, immature stages have only been described of N. treati Prasad 1968(Prasad 1969 and O. zalelestes Treat 1955. Although Prasad (1970Prasad ( -1973 reported the presence of immature stages of several species of the genus Prasadiseius from museumpreserved hawk moths over 40 years ago, until now, they have not been described.…”

“…The two families are considered to be within the same sister group, having a close evolutionary relationship, with otopheidomenids being more highly derived than the phytoseiids (Chant and McMurtry 2007). Prasad (1970aPrasad ( , b, 1972Prasad ( , 1973Prasad ( , 1987 reported seven species of Prasadiseius from museum-preserved hawk moths collected in different countries, including Prasadiseius cocytes (Prasad 1970a). Recently, this mite was found to heavily infest a sphingid moth, Manduca rustica (Fab.…”

Infestation of Sphingidae (Lepidoptera) by otopheidomenid mites in intertropical continental zones and observation of a case of heavy infestation by Prasadiseius kayosiekeri (Acari: Otopheidomenidae)

“…All stages of these mites are found on the same host usually in between the dorsal wings including the tympanic-metathoraxic-first abdominal region. In the Afrotropical, Indomalaya (Oriental) and Neotropical ecozones, eight species are known infesting these moths (Prasad, 1970a, b, 1972, 1973, 1976, Prasad et al, 2011. These include: P. achlora (Prasad, 1972), P. aporodes (Prasad, 1972), P. cocytes (Prasad, 1970) P. donahuei (Prasad, 1970), P. incanus Guanilo, 2011, P. indicus (Prasad, 1973), P. kayosiekeri (Prasad, 1970) and P. pholusis (Prasad, 1970).…”