Zumptiella citelli sp. n. (Acarina: Halarachnidae) from the Columbian Ground Squirrel, Citellus columbianus

Abstract

Zumptiella citelli sp. n., a nasal mite, from the Columbian ground squirrel, Citellus columbianus, in western Montana, is described and figured. Recently seven specimens of a nasal mite in the genus Zumptiella Fain, 1962 were recovered from four Columbian ground squirrels (Citellus columbianus). Six of the specimens, all adult females, were obtained from a pan of water placed underneath recently shot squirrels; the seventh was found at necropsy in the anterior nasal chambers of a squirrel. Furman (1954) described Pneumonyssus bakeri from Tamiasciurus douglasii mollipilosus and observed that P. bakeri might well represent a genus distinct from Pneumonyssus because of its definite though moderately reduced genital plate. This possibility was again recognized by Fain (1962a) after examining a new halarachnid from the nasal passages of an African rodent. At this time Fain erected the genus Zumptiella Fain, 1962 to contain certain halarachnids parasitic in the nasal passages of mammals. The generic characters were the presence of a relatively well-developed genital shield and the unique structure of the gnathosoma. This genus then included Zumptiella furmani Fain, 1962, the type of the genus, and Zumptiella bakeri (Furman, 1954), both from rodents. Later Fain (1962b) split the family Halarachnidae into two subfamilies, Halarachninae and Zumptiellinae on the basis of differences in gnathosomal structure, genital plates, and peritremes. In this scheme the characters of the Zumptiellinae were: in the female, the chelicerae are abnormally large, lying on the Received for publication 20 September 1963. ventral jaw of the palpi; the hypostome is very short; the epigynial shield is relatively well developed; the peritreme is absent. These are good generic characters. In this paper Fain described also Zumptiella cynictis from the nasal fossae of Cynictis penicillata, a viverrid from the Transvaal, Union of South Africa. The genus Zumptiella presently contains two species from rodents and one from a carnivore, all presumably parasites in the nasal cavities. The addition of the following species from a rodent will enlarge the genus to two rodent parasites from the United States and one rodent and one carnivore parasite from