New records of macrochelid mites and description of a new phoretic species (Acari: Mesostigmata: Macrochelidae) from Greece

Abstract

Three female specimens of a new macrochelid mite species (Neopodocinum longisetum n. sp.) were collected on Oryctes nasicornis (Linnaeus, 1758) in the Epirus Mountains in Northern Greece. The new species is closely related to Neopodocinum caputmedusae (Berlese, 1908), but these two species differ from each other in the length of setae j1 and j2, the peritreme, the numbers of lyrifissures, the spur-like structures on sternal shield and microspicules on the dorsal shield. Furthermore, seven species belonging to the genus Geholaspis Berlese, 1918, Longicheles Valle, 1953, Macrholaspis Oudemans, 1931, Macrocheles Latreille, 1829 and Nothrholaspis Berlese, 1918 are recorded for the first time from Greece.