A new species Unionicola (Dimockatax stat. rev.) haungthayawensis sp. nov. (Trombidiformes: Unionicolidae) from the freshwater mussel Lamellidens generosus (Gould, 1847) in Myanmar

Abstract

Unionicola (Dimockatax stat. rev.) haungthayawensis sp. nov. is described from the freshwater mussel Lamellidens generosus (Gould, 1847) (Bivalvia: Unionidae). The mites were collected from two sites in Myanmar. The mites were examined morphologically under the light microscope and their mitochondrial COI gene sequences have been obtained. Unionicola (Dimockatax stat. rev.) haungthayawensis sp. nov. is distinguished from another Asian member of the subgenus, U. (D.) tumidoides Vidrine, 1986, by the size of idiosoma (for males), and by the length of leg segments (for males and females) and chaetotaxy of the legs. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that these mites are phylogenetically close to two North American species belonging this subgenus, i.e. U. (Dimockatax stat. rev.) tumida (Wolcott, 1898) and U. (Dimockatax stat. rev.) ernstingi Edwards et al., 2009 (uncorrected COI p-distance = 13.6% and 17.3%, respectively). In this paper, we also restore Dimockatax Vidrine, 1992 stat. rev. as a valid subgenus, because it was supported by a broad-scale phylogenetic research.