Stratiolaelaps scimitus ( Womersley, 1956 )

Stratiolaelaps scimitus ( Womersley, 1956)

Cosmolaelaps scimitus Womersley, 1956: 580 .

Hypoaspis (Cosmolaelaps) scimita .— Tenorio, 1982: 267.

Stratiolaelaps scimitus .— Walter & Campbell, 2003: 266; Moraes et al., 2022: 392.

Material examined

Ten females, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan, 20 August 2014 , soil core, agricultural soil; 3 females, same data except 21 October 2014 ; 1 female, same data except 2 June 2014 .

Notes

Allred (1969) recorded specimens identified as Hypoaspis miles ( Berlese, 1892) associated with small mammals in Pakistan. Walter and Campbell (2003) discussed the difficulty of identifying species in this group, and we have not been able to examine Allred's specimens to confirm their identification. In view of the fact that S. scimitus is a widespread inhabitant of nests and burrows, we provisionally suggest that Allred's specimens from mammals in Pakistan were actually S. scimitus . These two species are distinguished by the shape of the opisthonotal shield (tapering gradually behind S 2 in S. miles; tapering sharply behind S 2 in S. scimitus ), the length of the post-anal seta (much shorter than para-anal setae in S. miles; subequal to para-anal setae in S. scimitus ), and the form of the palp tarsal claw (two subequal tines in S. miles, two subequal tines and a small basal tine in S. scimitus ).