Chaetodactylus zachvatkini Klimov and OConnor, 2008

Fig. 1. Chaetodactylus zachvatkini, phoretic deutonymph, ex Osmia tricornis, Italy, BMOC 03-0523-005 Click to enlarge

Bee Mites : Acari : Acariformes : Sarcoptiformes : Chaetodactylidae : Chaetodactylus

Chaetodactylus zachvatkini Klimov and OConnor, 2008

Chaetodactylus osmiae (non Dufour): Zachvatkin, 1941: 394 (part., not distinguished from Ch. zachvatkini), Fig. 678

Chaetodactylus zachvatkini Klimov and OConnor, 2008 nom. n. pro Ch. osmiae sensu Zachvatkin, 1941 (part., non Dufour, 1839): 110 (included in key, holotype designated)

Material (show database records). ITALY: Holotype: HDN - Liguria, San Remo, ex Osmia tricornis (male), collection of F. Morawitz, BMOC 03-0523-005. Paratypes: 19 HDNs - same data as holotype; 10 HDNs - Calabria, Osmia tricornis (female), BMOC 03-0523-005, other data as for holotype; 1 male, 1 female - SPAIN: Cataluña, Barcelona, Osmia cornuta nest#: BCN (31), 1991 J. Bosch, GCE 91-0517-19, UMMZ BMOC 05-0310-003; 2 males, 1 female, 1 HDN - ex Osmia niveata nest BCN OF (33), 1991, J. Bosch, GCE 91-0517-1, UMMZ BMOC 05-0310-001; 2 HDNs - ex Osmia latreillei, nest BCN (29), 1991 J. Bosch GCE 91-0517-24, UMMZ BMOC 05-0310-005; 2 females - ex Osmia sp nest host nest#: BCN x1 (26), 1991, J. Bosch, GCE 91-0517-29, UMMZ BMOC 05-0310-006; 2 HDNs - Osmia sp BCN x2 (27), 1991, J. Bosch, GCE 91-0517-27, UMMZ BMOC 05-0310-007; 2 HDNs, 2 males - ex Osmia sp., nest BCN x2 (28), 1991, J. Bosch, GCE 91-0517-30; UMMZ BMOC 05-0310-008; 2 HDNs, 2 females - ex Osmia sp nest BCN D17 (35), 1991, J. Bosch, GCE 91-0517-34, UMMZ BMOC 05-0310-009; 2 HDNs - Granadella, ex Osmia latreillei nest GRA 143(1) (no. 4), 1991, J. Bosch, GCE 91-0517-23, UMMZ BMOC 05-0310-004; 2 HDNs - Taradell, ex Osmia niveata nest TAR 1-6(N) (11), 1991, J. Bosch, GCE 91-0517-8, UMMZ BMOC 05-0310-002; 1 HDN - TUNISIAN REPUBLIC: Tunis, ex Osmia tricornis (ventral mesosoma), no date Graeffe, KU BMOC 93-0329-001. holotype is in ZIN, paratypes are in ZIN and UMMZ.

Biology. May be a pest of managed Osmia colonies in southern Europe and northern Africa.

Hosts.
Osmia tricornis Latreille, 1811 (type host)
Osmia cornuta (Latreille, 1805)
Osmia latreillei (Spinola, 1806)
Osmia niveata (Fabricius, 1804)

Distribution (show map). Italy: Liguria, San Remo (type locality); Spain; Tunisian Republic.

Notes. This species was described and depicted by Zachvatkin (1941) as Chaetodactylus osmiae (Dufour). Van Asselt (2000) redescribed Chaetodactylus osmiae from Belgium (which is very close to the type locality) and from the type host, Osmia rufa. He believed that Zachvatkin had the same species but erroneously depicted its dorsum without prodorsal shield (actually it is present on the figure and mentioned in the description and in the key) and short dorsal setae (longer in true Ch. osmiae). Because Zachvatkin describes Ch. osmiae as having "lateral suckers [=ps₂] situated on the same transverse level with central ones [ad₁+ad₂]" (as in true Ch. osmiae) but figures mites with shorter setae, we believe that he dealt with two very similar species and one of them, having "shorter" setae, is new, Chaetodactylus zachvatkini Klimov and OConnor, 2008. Unfortunately, we could not find any specimens that match Ch. osmiae sensu Zachvatkin, 1941 or even true Ch. osmiae in his collection in Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg (ZIN). Material from Italy (including the holotype) was collected by Dr. S. V. Mironov in the insect collection of ZIN on our request. Since insect-associated mites described by Zachvatkin (1941) were collected in ZIN and this author mentioned that Ch. osmiae occurs in Italy on Osmia tricornis (p. 398), we believe that our mites originated from the same bee hosts that were sampled by Zachvatkin.

References

Klimov, P. B. & B. M. OConnor. 2008. Morphology, evolution, and host associations of bee-associated mites of the family Chaetodactylidae (Acari: Astigmata), with a monographic revision of North American taxa. Miscellaneous Publications Museum of Zoology University of Michigan.199: 1-243.

Zachvatkin, A. A. 1941. Tiroglifoidnue kleshchi Tyroglyphoidea [=Tyroglyphoid mites Tyroglyphoidea]. In Fauna SSSR: Paukoobraznuye, ed. S. A. Zernov, 475. Moscow-Leningrad: Akademiya Nauk SSSR.