Tyrannidectes reticulatus ( Černý, 1974 )

Tyrannidectes reticulatus ( Černý, 1974)

( Fig. 11 View FIGURE 11 )

Pterodectes reticulatus Černý 1974: 357 ; Černý & Lukoschus 1975: 196.

Tyrannidectes reticulatus : Valim & Hernandes 2010: 27; Mironov & Galloway 2021: 27.

Material examined. 9 males, 10 females ex Elaenia ridleyana Sharpe, 1888 ( Passeriformes : Tyrannidae ), BRAZIL, Pernambuco, Fernando de Noronha, Sancho Beach, -3.855044, -32.441128, 02 October 2024, band # F61457 View Materials , coll. G. Sobral; 1 male, 2 females, same host species, locality and collector, 17 August 2023, # F79774 View Materials .

Additional material examined. 22 males, 27 females ex Elaenia chiriquensis , BRAZIL, Federal District, Brasília, Fazenda Água Limpa , 26°54'S / 49°04'W, 13 February 2002, M.F. Kanegae coll. GoogleMaps ; 1 male, 3 females, ex E. flavogaster , same locality and collector, 07 August 2002 GoogleMaps . Material deposited at ECZ-UFSC.

Remarks. Originally described from the yellow-bellied elaenia, Elaenia flavogaster (Thunberg, 1822) , from Suriname ( Černý, 1974), this species was later reported on the same host and also on the lesser elaenia, E. chiriquensis Lawrence, 1865 , in Brasília, Brazil ( Valim & Hernandes 2010). The Noronha elaenia, E. ridleyana , is herein recorded as a new host for this mite species.

This species is characterized by having, in males, epimerites I U-shaped, the rudimentary sclerite rEpIIa absent, the aedeagus reaching the anterior level of adanal suckers, setae h3 short spiculiform, the prodorsal shield entire, without lateral indentations at the level of scapular setae. The reticulate pattern on the hysteronotal shield is often more distinct in females than in males, although it may be more or less pronounced in each specimen in both sexes. Likewise, minute lacunae on both the prodorsal and hysteronotal shields may be variously expressed in different individuals, and the ventral crest on femur II of females may be variously noticeable, especially depending on the position of legs in the mounted slides.

During the examination of specimens, a few minor differences were observed between the specimens from the Noronha elaenia and those of the two previously reported hosts, and from the characteristics given in the original description ( Černý, 1974) and subsequent the redescription of this species ( Valim & Hernandes 2010).The specimens from Elaenia chiriquensis and E. flavogaster reported by Valim & Hernandes (2010) were herein re-examined ( 22 males and 27 females from the former and 1 male and 3 females from the latter), and a few corrections for the species diagnosis should be made: trochanteral setae sR III are indeed absent in all those specimens (while it is present in the specimens from E. ridleyana ); setae f2 are absent in specimens from all hosts, despite it was illustrated originally by Černý (1974) and in the redescription of that species by Valim & Hernandes (2010).

Although the loss of the setae sR on trochanters III was initially one of the key diagnostic characters of the genus Tyrannidectes (see Mironov et al. 2008), it was recently demonstrated by both molecular ( Pedroso et al. 2023) and morphological studies ( Mironov & Galloway 2021) that this seta may be present or absent in a particular species of Tyrannidectes .