Caligonella saboorii n. sp. (Acari: Trombidiformes: Caligonellidae) from western Iran

A new species of the genus Caligonella Berlese, 1910 (Acari: Trombidiformes: Caligonellidae), C. saboorii n. sp. is described and illustrated. This new species was collected from soil and litter under a walnut tree, Juglans regia L. (Juglandaceae) in Khorramabad, Lorestan Province, Southwestern Iran. A key to all known species of the genus Caligonella is provided.


INTRODUCTION
The family Caligonellidae was erected by Grandjean (1944) based on genus Caligonella, with C. humilis (Koch, 1838) as type species. Members of this family are small, reddish in life, free-living and can feed on small arthropods. They are often found in various habitats such as soil, leaf litter and bark of trees, moss, storehouses and bird nests (Summers and Schlinger 1955;Meyer and Ueckermann 1989;Fan 2000;Doǧan 2003;Ahaniazad and Bagheri 2012;Akyol and Koç 2012). This family currently comprises five genera, of which the genus Caligonella currently contains 9 known species namely: C. humilis (Germany), C. afroensis (Meyer and Ueckermann 1989) (South Africa), C. claviparma (Meyer and Ueckermann 1989) (South Africa), C. scutovata (Meyer and Ueckermann 1989) (South Africa), C. geonoma (Meyer and Ueckermann 1989) (South Africa), C. tunxiensis (Hu and Hu 1997) venusta (Khaustov and Kuznetsov 1997) et al. 2013 (Iran). In this study a tenth species of the genus is described.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The specimens were collected from soil and litter under Walnut tree, Juglans regia L. (Juglandaceae), in Khorramabad vicinity (Lorestan province), Southwestern Iran. The mites were mounted directly in Hoyer's medium on microscopic slides. The slides were dried at 50°C in an oven, sealed with nail polish and examined under an Olympus BX51 Differential Interference Contrast microscope (DIC). Drawings were made with a camera lucida. The terminology, the setal notations and leg chaetotaxy used in the description of the new species follow that of Kethley (1990). All measurements are in micrometers. The measurements of the holotype are followed by the variations in the paratypes. A key to species of the genus Caligonella, based on females is provided.

Key to the species of the genus Caligonella
Differential diagnosis -Caligonella saboorii n. sp. resembles C. haddadi and C. humilis by having the same leg setal formulae but differs from C. haddadi by three main characters: (1) the length of dorsal setae in new species (17 -26) longer than those C. haddadi (14 -17); (2) the outer solenidion of tibia I two times as long as inner solenidion in C. saboorii n. sp. instead of three times longer than inner solenidion in C. haddadi; (3) the outer solenidion on tibia I (10 -11), solenidion on tarsus I (10 -11) and solenidion on tarsi II (10 -10) are equal in length in new species whereas outer solenidion on tibia I (15 -16), longer than solenidion on tarsus I (11 -12) and solenidion on tarsus II (10 -10) in C. haddadi. The new species shares with C. humilis the identical setal formulae of legs and one pair of pseudanal setae but can readily be distinguished from the latter by: (1) the length of dorsal setae in new species (17 -26) longer than those C. humilis (13); (2) the outer solenidion on tibia I and solenidion on tarsus I are equal in length versus outer solenidion on tibia I shorter than solenidion on tarsus I in C. humilis; (3) The solenidion on tarsus I and solenidion on tarsus II are equal in length in the new species whereas two times longer than on tarsus II in C. humilis.
Type materials -The holotype female and three paratype females were collected from soil and litter under Walnut tree, Juglans regia L. (Juglandaceae) in Khorramabad vicinity Lorestan province (33°56'N, 48°39'E, a.s.l. 1703 m), 8 July, 2012, by Mohammad Ahmad Hoseini. The holotype female and two paratype females are deposited in the Collection of the Acarology Laboratory, University of Bu-Ali Sina, Hamedan, Iran. One paratype female, will be deposited in the mite Section of National Collection of Arachnida, Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria, South Africa.
Etymology -This species is named in honor of Prof. Alireza Saboori, Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Tehran University, Karaj, Iran.