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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #328955
Research Project: Plant Feeding Mite (Acari) Systematics

Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory

Title: Definition of Tenuipalpus sensu stricto (Acari, Tenuipalpidae), with redescription of Tenuipalpus caudatus (Dugès) and description of a new species from Costa Rica

Author
item CASTRO, ELIZEU - Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)
item Kane, Ethan
item FERES, REINALDO J - Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)
item Ochoa, Ronald - Ron
item Bauchan, Gary

Submitted to: International Journal of Acarology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/3/2016
Publication Date: 3/7/2016
Citation: Castro, E.B., Kane, E.C., Feres, R.F., Ochoa, R., Bauchan, G.R. 2016. Definition of Tenuipalpus sensu stricto (Acari, Tenuipalpidae), with redescription of Tenuipalpus caudatus (Dugès) and description of a new species from Costa Rica. International Journal of Acarology. 42:106-126.

Interpretive Summary: Several species in the family Tenuipalpidae are important economic pest in the Americas. We describe 1 new species of a flat mite and redescribed the species type for the genus. In this study we examined a species associated with rainforest trees from Costa Rica using scanning electron microscopy, and provide details of the different species in the genus that share similar characters with the genus type species. Research scientists, growers, and USDA-APHIS will use this information for the identification of potential pests in the U.S.

Technical Abstract: We discuss the taxonomic history of the genus Tenuipalpus Donnadieu and re-describe Tenuipalpus caudatus (Dugès) (= T. palmatus Donnadieu) based on specimens from Portugal intercepted at the United States ports of entry, and references including photographic records of the neotype of T. caudatus. In addition, we describe Tenuipalpus erbei sp. nov. from Costa Rica. Our results show that T. caudatus, T. erbei sp. nov. and another 33 known species of Tenuipalpus share a pair of lateral body projections associated with setae c3, considered a synapomorphy for the group. Based in these findings, Tenuipalpus sensu stricto is defined. We also show that its members share other character states, although these features are found elsewhere in Tenuipalpus and also in Ultratenuipalpus, therefore indicating their origins are within Tenuipalpus. A list of Tenuipalpus sensu stricto species is presented.