COMPLEMENTARY DATA ON HAPLOZETES FUSIFER ( BERLESE , 1908 ) ( ACARI , ORIBATIDA , HAPLOZETIDAE ) COLLECTED FROM IRAN

M. A. Akrami & M. Behmanesh. 2013. Complementary data on Haplozetes fusifer (Berlese, 1908) (Acari, Oribatida, Haplozetidae) collected from Iran. Graellsia, 69(2): 147-152. An oribatid mite of the family Haplozetidae, Haplozetes fusifer (Berlese, 1908) is redescribed on the basis of Iranian materials, including the first detailed descriptions of the gnathosoma and legs.

Haplozetes fusifer (Berlese, 1908) was described as Protoribates (Scheloribates) fusifer from Italy.The original description (Berlese, 1908) of this species was very short and incomplete, lacking figures.Subsequent redescriptions (Schweizer, 1956;Ayyildiz, 1988;Mahunka, 1995) also were incomplete (lacking, for example, information about the gnathosoma and legs).Our main objective is to provide a more complete redescription of this species based on Iranian specimens collected during 2009, in the course of a faunistic survey of oribatid mites of Shiraz and Sarvestan cities, Fars province, southern Iran.

Materials and methods
Soil and litter samples were taken from the surface to a soil depth of 10 cm under different plants by the junior author.Oribatid mites were extracted in Berlese-Tullgren funnels set over jars of 75% ethanol.Mites were removed, cleared in lactophenol, and mounted in Hoyer's medium on glass microscope slides.The slides were placed in an oven at 45 ºC for two weeks and then the specimens were examined using a light microscope (Zeiss Standard 20).Figures were made using a drawing tube attached to microscope.Body length was measured from the tip of the rostrum to the posterior edge of the notogaster, and body width refers to the maximum width of the notogaster in dorsal aspect.All body measurements are presented in micrometers (µm).In leg formulae, Roman letters refer to normal setae, Greek letters to famulus and solenidia.Single prime (') marks setae on anterior and double prime (") setae on posterior side of the given leg segment and parentheses refer to a pair of setae.
All specimens are deposited in the Acarological collection, Department of Plant Protection, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.
DIAGNOSIS.Body size 405-447 x 263-295; rostrum rounded; lamellae relatively wide, reaching base of rostral setae; interlamellar setae long, reaching anterior end of lamellae; sensilli long, with long and narrow stalk and fusiform-lanceolate head, barbed throughout with short barbs; four pairs of sacculi, with long and narrow canals; 10 pairs of short, slender and smooth notogastral setae; five pairs of sparsely barbulate genital setae; epimeral setae setiform, barbed.
REDESCRIPTION.Integument: Yellowish-brown in color.Cerotegument very thin, with small granules.Integument finely punctate.Surface of notogaster nearly smooth, with numerous small round muscle sigillae anterolaterally and along lateral and posterior margins.Hypostomal surface smooth.Surface of ventral, anal and genital plates nearly smooth.
Prodorsum (Figs. 1,3).Rostrum broadly rounded anteriorly.Rostral setae (ro, 53-63) fairly long, barbed bilaterally, inserted laterally in front of free tip of the tutorium, extend well beyond tip of rostrum.Lamellae relatively wide, thicker in middle, distinctly narrowed distally, with short cusps, longer than half total length of prodorsum, reaching base of rostral setae.Lamellar setae (le, 67-76) long, conspicuously longer than rostral ones, barbed bilaterally, extending for nearly half of their length beyond the tip of rostrum.Interlamellar setae (in, 53-63) nearly as long as lamellar ones, barbed bilaterally throughout their length, inserted rather far anterior to dorsosejugal suture and close to median margin of lamellae, reaching anterior end of lamellae.Exobothridial setae (ex, 27-32) short, sparsely barbed.Sensilli (ss, 81-92) long, with long and narrow stalk and fusiform-lanceolate head, which is 2/3 as long as the stalk, barbed throughout with short barbs.Bothridium rounded, with wide opening, directed anterolaterally.
Anogenital region (Fig. 2).Anal and genital apertures far from each other, former far larger than the latter, interspace between genital and anal opening about twice as long as the length of genital ones.Anogenital region with five pairs of genital setae (g 1 , 17; g 2 -g 5 , 12-14), three arranged on anterior half and the other two on posterior half of the plate, one pair of aggenital (16-17), two pairs of anal ( 15) and three pairs of adanal (12-14) setae, genital and aggenital setae sparsely barbed, anal and adanal setae smooth.Distance between bases of aggenital setae longer than that between setae ad 3 -ad 3 .Adanal seta ad 1 positioned posteriad to anal opening, ad 2 in adanal position, in posterior angle of the plate and ad 3 in preanal position, adanal lyrifissure (iad) in adanal position, parallel to lateral margin of the plate, situated almost midway between setae ad 2 and ad 3 .
REMARKS.Some morphological characters of Haplozetes fusifer are variable (body size, length of sensilli and interlamellar setae) in specimens from different regions (Italy, Germany, Turkey) (Berlese 1908;Schweizer 1956;Ayyildiz 1988).A comparison of these differences is presented in Table 2.

Table 2 .
-Variability of some morphological characters in adult Haplozetes fusifer.