Multivariate discrimination among cryptic mites of the genus Androlaelaps (Acari: Mesostigmata: Laelapidae) parasitic of sympatric akodontine rodents (Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae) in northeastern Argentina: possible evidence of host switch followed by speciation,with the description of two new species

Laelapids are among the most common ectoparasites of rodents. Currently, it is under discussion whether there is a single polixenous species that parasites a variety of hosts, or whether there are cryptic species highly host specific. Herein, multivariate morphometric analyses of cryptic sympatric laelapids of the genus Androlaelaps allowed us to identify different species. These species are specific of their akodontine hosts, Akodon montensis and Thaptomys nigrita, in localities situated in northeastern Argentina. In addition, we analyzed similar laelapids associated with the akodontines Deltamys kempi and Akodon cursor. Using principle component analyses we differentiated four laelapid species, each one host specific, independent of sympatry of the hosts, and without geographical variation. From these four species, we described two new species (Androlaelaps navonae n. sp. and Androlaelaps wingei n. sp.). We determined the four species based on a range of variations in several characters, mainly size. These four laelapid species belong to the Androlaelaps rotundus species group, specific to akodontines. These species are very similar among them but differ from the remainder species of the group by their small size, distance between j6 setae similar to the distance between the z5 setae, strong ventral setae, opisthogaster with 13 pairs of strong setae (one close to the distal margin of epigynal shield), and anal shield wider than long. Further studies will elucidate whether they constitute a new laelapid genus. Phylogenetic and ecological factors influencing host-specificity are discussed, and we propose that host colonization could have taken place by host switching of a single laelapid species among rodent species, followed by speciation.     

中国美绥螨属1新种和大陆1新记录（蜱螨亚纲：中气门目：美绥螨科）

记述中国美绥螨属1新种：拟筐美绥螨Ameroseius imitocorbiculus sp．nov．和大陆1新记录：越南美绥螨Ameroseius vietnamensis Micherdzinski,1955。     

派伦螨属1新种和革板螨属1新种及都匀革板螨雄螨描述(蜱螨亚纲:中气门目:派盾螨科)

记述派伦螨属1新种:遵义派伦螨Parholaspulus zunyiensis sp.nov.和革板螨属1新种:江西革板螨Gamasholaspis jiangxiensissp.nov.,并描述都匀革板螨Gamasholaspis duyunensis Chen,Guo et Gu,1994雄螨.     

寄螨亚科6已知种补充描述（蜱螨亚纲：革螨股）

对短毛寄螨Parasitus brachychaetus Ma,1986;王氏寄螨Parasitus wangdunqingi Ma,1995;二刺寄螨Parasitus bispinatus Ma,1996;北方糙革螨Trachygamasus borealis Ma et Wang,1996;三尖常革螨Vulgarogamasus trifidus Ma,1987和甘肃常革螨Vulgarogamasus gansuensis Ma,1987进行了补充描述。     

中国革螨2新记录（蜱螨亚纲：裂胸螨科，角绥螨科）

报道中国革螨2新记录：半裂北绥螨Arctoseius semiseissus（Berlese,1892）和奥氏角绥螨Antennoseius oudemansi（S．Thor,1930）。     

Mites (Acari: Laelapidae) associated with sigmodontinae rodents in Entre Ríos Province, Argentina.

The richness, diversity, abundance and prevalence of mite species associated with sigmodontine rodents of different species in Entre Ríos province, Argentina are studied. Five of the six species of mites were reported for the first time in the study area. The richness and diversity of mites was higher on Oligoryzomys flavescens and O. delticola than on Akodon azarae. Androlaelaps rotundus was dominant and exhibited higher values of mean abundance and prevalence on A. azarae, Mysolaelaps microspinosus on O. flavescens and Gigantolaelaps mattogrossensis on O. delticola.     

革板螨属3新种和派伦螨属1新种（蜱螨亚纲：中气门目：派盾螨科）

记述革板螨属3新种和派伦螨属1新种：井冈山革板螨Gamasholaspis jinggangshanensis sp．nov．,何氏革板螨Gamasholaspis hochyicheni sp．nov．,新阿革板螨Gamasholaspis novakimotoi sp．nov．和沙县派伦螨Parholaspulus shaxianensis sp．nov．     

中国裸厉螨属1新种和1新记录（蜱螨亚纲：中气门目：厉螨科）

记述裸厉螨属1新种：古蔺裸厉螨Gymnolaelaps gulinensis sp．nov．和1新记录：奥地利裸厉螨Gymnolaelaps austrgacus（Sellnick,1935）。     

新革螨属1新种记述和峨居常革螨及异形新革螨补充描述（蜱螨亚纲：中气门目：寄螨科）

记述新革螨属1新种：泰安新革螨Neogamasus taianensis Ma et Sun, sp. nov.,并对峨眉常革螨Vulgarogamasus emeishanensis Ma et Wang.1996和异形新革螨Neogamasus anomalus Ma et Yan,1998进行补充描述。     

短毛下盾螨雌螨与后若螨描述（蜱螨亚纲：中气门目：厉螨科）

描述短毛下盾螨Hypoaspis brevipilis Hirschmann,1969雌螨与后若螨。     

寄螨属1新种和新革螨属1新种(蜱螨亚纲:中气门目:寄螨科)

记述寄螨属1新种:棒毛寄螨Parasitus clavasetosus sp.nov.和新革螨属1新种:丛枝新革螨Neogamasus fasciculus sp.nov.     

下盾螨属一新亚种和龚氏钝革螨后若虫形态描述(蜱螨亚纲,厉螨科,寄螨科)

记述下盾螨属 Hypoaspis Canestrini,1885的1新亚种,柔弱下盾螨宁夏亚种Hypoaspis debilis ningxiaensis Bai,ssp. nov.和龚氏钝革螨 Amblygamasus gongzhengdai Bai,2010后若螨形态,标本分别采自银川市南郊地表柳叶腐植层及银川花卉市场的高山榕盆景土壤表层。模式标本保存于军事医学科学院微生物流行病研究所昆虫标本馆和宁夏回族自治区疾病预防控制中心。     

宁夏中气门螨调查报告（蜱螨亚纲）（1）及季氏寄螨形态描述

在宁夏采得中气门螨21种,其中宁夏新记录8种。并对季氏寄螨Parasitus tichomirovi Davydova进行形态描述。     

维螨属2新种记述(蜱螨亚纲:中气门目:维螨科)

记述维螨属2新种:河南维螨Veigaia henanensis sp.nov.和福建维螨Veigaia fujianensis sp.nov.     

Statistical approaches for morphological continuous characters: a conceptual model applied to Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata)

Marie‐Stephane, T. (2012). Statistical approaches for morphological continuous characters: a conceptual model applied to Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata). —Zoologica Scripta, 42, 327–334. Species discrimination is certainly the most current and essential taxonomic task. Despite molecular development, species continue to be delimited using morphological characters. This study provides statistical approaches to assess decision rules, using continuous morphological characters, to determine whether specimens examined belong or not to a same species. As species discrimination is usually based on no overlapping between intraspecific distributions, a general statistical approach has been developed to assess, for a character x, the relation between intraspecific overlapping and (i) the differences between the means of specimen lots corresponding to two species and (ii) the differences between the values borne by two specimens belonging to two species. Then, this conceptual approach was applied to the predatory mite family Phytoseiidae, highlighting that the minimal difference between means of two specimen lots belonging to two species should be of 10.58 μm (for setae <65 μm) and 33.99 μm (for setae >65 μm). When no specimen sets are available but only two specimens compared, the model shows that a difference of 13.24 μm (for setae <65 μm) and 31.74 μm (for setae >65 μm) would be sufficient to conclude that these specimens belong to two species. The presently proposed decision rules are assumed to improve species discrimination and to limit synonymies. Further developments will consist in applying this approach to databases containing species features in order to automatically extract the putative synonyms. Furthermore, such decision rules would also be useful to determine whether a species newly described is really new for science.     

铃木前小派伦螨雄螨描述（蜱螨亚纲：中气门目：派盾螨科）

描述铃木前小派伦螨Proparholaspulus suzukii Ishikawa,1980雄螨.     

Arthropod and filarioid parasites associated with wild rodents in the northeast marshes of Buenos Aires,Argentina

During 1995, 16 species of arthropods and 2 species of filarioids, totaling 1 287 specimens were collected from 64 wild rodents captured in the Hudson Natural Reserve, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Infestation parameters and indexes were analyzed. Host specific richness was S = 6, diversity H = 1.48, and relative density RDI = 40%. High values of parasite species richness and diversity were found on Oligoryzomys delticola (S = 9; H = 1.40), Oxymycterus rufus (S = 9; H = 1.37), and Oligoryzomys flavescens (S = 9; H = 1.28), followed by Scapteromys aquaticus (S = 6; H = 0.17), and Akodon azarae (S = 4; H = 1.20). Deltamys kempi was infested only by Androlaelaps rotundus. O. delticola and O. flavescens showed the highest similarity index (O = 74.19%), followed by O. flavescens with S. aquaticus, as a result of historical processes and shared microhabitats. Considering arthropods-filarioids associations, significant affinity was observed in Litomosoides bonaerensis with Hoplopleura travassosi, Laelaps paulistanensis, and Gigantolaelaps wolffsohni.     

Lepidochitona bullocki, a new species of chiton (Polyplacophora: Ischnochitonidae) from the Colombian Caribbean

The genus Lepidochitona is one of the most diverse in the Southern Caribbean. In order to describe this new species, twenty specimens of L. bullocki sp. nov. were collected by hand on the rocky coast, from 0.25 to 1.5m depth, and a shore distance of 1 to 5m, between the Northern section of Rodadero beach and Puerto Luz, in Santa Marta, Colombia. The specimens were small, with maximum observed size of 7.3mm. This is the fourth species of the genus Lepidochitona described for the Caribbean. The previously known species were L. liozonis (Dall & Simpson 1901), L. rosea (Kaas 1972) and L. rufoi (Garcia-Ríos 2010). L. bullocki differs from L. liozonis and L. rosea in having a rough tegmentum and color. It differs from L. rufoi in having longer and numerous hyaline spicules, bigger size and broader central radula tooth. Lepidochitona bullocki is the only Caribbean species of the genus frequently located on the illuminated side of rocks in the shallow sublitoral zone.