Raphignathus saboorii n. sp. a new species of the genus Raphignathus (Acari: Trombidiformes: Raphignathidae) from northwest Iran

A new species of raphignathid mites from northwest Iran, Raphignathus saboorii n. sp. is described and illustrated. A key to all known species of Raphignathus in Iran is also given.


INTRODUCTION
Members of the family Raphignathidae are predacious. They can be found underneath tree bark, in lichens, in moss, in leaf litter, in pigeon nests, in soil, on a wide range of plants and in house dusts (Fan and Yin 2000;Khanjani and Ueckermann 2003). This family are easily recognized by the fused cheliceral bases, forming a stylophore; cervical peritremes not embedded in dorsal surface of stylophore and confluent coxae (Meyer and Ueckermann 1989). The genus Raphignathus Duges is the oldest genus in this family and has a worldwide distribution with more than 60 species of which seven are known from Iran, namely: R. collegiatus Atyeo, Baker and Crossley, 1961;R. gracilis (Rack 1962); R. giselae Meyer and Ueckermann, 1989;R. zaoi Hu, Jing and Liang, 1995;R. aciculatus Fan, 2000;R. hecmatanaensis Khanjani and Ueckermann, 2003;R. protaspus Khanjani andUeckermann, 2003 (Khanjani andUeckermann 2003;Ghorbani et al. 2010). In this paper a new species, R. saboorii n. sp. from northwest Iran is described and figured.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Litter and soil samples were taken from apple orchards at Maragheh, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. Measurements were taken as follows: length of idiosoma from suture between gnathosoma and idiosoma to posterior margin of idiosoma; width of idiosoma at broadest part of idiosoma; and setae from their insertion to their tips. Distances between setae were measured between their insertions. The terminology and abbreviations of dorsal and ventral setae follow Kethley (1990) and all measurements are given in micrometers (µm).
Male and immature stages -Unknown.
Etymology -The species is named in honor of Prof. Alireza Saboori (Professor of Entomology, University of Tehran, Iran), for his great efforts to develop of Acarology in Iran.
Type material -Holotype and 1 paratype female of Raphignathus saboorii n. sp. were collected from soil in apple orchards, 20 August 2009, Maragheh, East Azerbaijan province, Iran, by Hamed Ghorbani. The holotype and paratype females will be deposited in the Arachnida Collection of Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria, South Africa.
Remarks -The new species is very closely related to R. sceptrum Chaudhri, Akbar and Rasool (Chaudhri et al. 1979) by having: 4 pairs of genital setae, 2 pairs of setae on interscutal membrane, 2 pairs of setae on palpfemur and simple dorsal setae but can be distinguished from the later as follows: 1. R. sceptrum has one pair of small shields behind the anteromedian propodosomal shield which are absent in new species.
2. setae f1 in new species well behind the anterior margin of opisthosomal shield but in R. sceptrum f1 situated on anterior margin of opisthosomal shield.
3. tarsi I and IV with 21 and 13 setae in new species vs 19 and 12 in R. sceptrum, respectively.
Raphignathus saboorii also resembles R. gracilis by having 2 pairs of interscutal setae, 2 setae on palpfemur, simple dorsal setae and absence of small shields on interscutal membrane but, can be separated by following features: 1. genital shields with 4 pairs of setae in R. saboorii vs. 3 pairs in R. gracilis 2. tarsus II with 17 setae vs. 16 in R. gracilis.
3. coxisternal III-IV is absent in new species but present in R. gracilis.