New locality and host records of two chigger mite species (Acariformes: Trombiculidae) from Morocco

Alexandr A Stekolnikov,Abdessamad Aglagane,Omar Er-Rguibi,El Hassan El Mouden,El-Mustapha Laghzaoui

doi:10.24349/acarologia/20214448

Alexandr A Stekolnikov, Abdessamad Aglagane + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.24349/acarologia/20214448

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Abstract

Two chigger mite species, Ericotrombidium tarentolae (Vercammen-Grandjean and Langston, 1976) and Neotrombicula orycti Taufflieb, 1960, have been recorded outside their type localities and on two species of geckos from the genus Quedenfeldtia Boettger for the first time. One new subjective synonym has been established on the base of examination of type specimens and additional materials — Neotrombicula orycti Taufflieb, 1960 (syn.: Neotrombicula lemni Taufflieb, 1960, n. syn.).

Highlights

Morocco is one of the best-studied African countries as regards chigger mite fauna
The predominance of new species descriptions over finds of previously described species signifies a remarkable insufficiency in the taxonomy of chigger mites
A taxonomic foundation for the identification of a larger half of African chiggers has been laid many decades ago by the works of Vercammen-Grandjean (1958, 1965, 1966), Vercammen-Grandjean & Langston (1976), and Taufflieb (1964, 1965, 1966), faunistic reports on African chiggers almost absent after 1970s, up to the paper of Stekolnikov (2018a), where 19 species have been recorded in new countries and/or on new hosts, and nine of them have been found outside their type localities for the first time

Summary

Introduction

Morocco is one of the best-studied African countries as regards chigger mite fauna. 23 localities have been sampled and 30 chigger species were recorded there (Stekolnikov 2018b). Brunehaldia brunehaldi (Vercammen-Grandjean, 1956) and Schoutedenichia (Platytrichia) dipodilli Vercammen-Grandjean, 1958 were described from Morocco (Vercammen-Grandjean 1956, 1958) and later recorded, respectively, in Turkey and Egypt (Stekolnikov & Daniel 2012) and in Spain (Pereira-Lorenzo 1993). Straelensia variocula Brown, 2006 was described from both Morocco and Burkina Faso (Brown 2006), but is still known only from its type series. The larger half of the chigger species known in Morocco (20 of 30) were collected only in Casablanca or its vicinities (Nfifikh forest, Oued Cherrat, and Tit Mellil). The knowledge of the chigger fauna in the country should be regarded as fragmentary

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