The Australian species of <i>Macrocheles</i> (Acarina : Macrochelidae)

Abstract

The Australian fauna of the mite genus Macrocheles Latreille is revised. The fauna is shown to comprise 49 species, 26 of which are here described as new: M. agilis , sp. nov., M. angustus ,sp. nov., M. borealis , sp. nov., M. denhamensis , sp. nov., M. eta ,sp. nov., M. forceps , sp. nov., M. fungicolus , sp. nov., M. gamma ,sp. nov., M. guttatus , sp. nov., M. halli , sp. nov., M. holmi , sp.nov., M. howdenorum , sp. nov., M. lama , sp. nov., M. lambda , sp.nov., M. omicron , sp. nov., M. peckorum , sp., nov., M. rimbija , sp., nov., M. siderolophus , sp. nov., M. spatei , sp., nov., M. spiculatus , sp. nov., M. tesselatus , sp. nov., M. undoolya , sp., nov., M. upsilon , sp. nov., M. waitei ,sp. nov., M. wallacei , sp. nov. and M. zeta , sp. nov. A further 23 previously describedspecies are now known from Australia: M. aestivus Halliday, M. boudreauxi Krantz, M. faveolus Halliday, M. feehani Halliday, M. glaber (MÜller), M. kappa Halliday, M. kraepelini (Berlese), M. krantzi Evans &amp; Hyatt, M. mammifer Berlese, M. merdarius (Berlese), M. muscaedomesticae (Scopoli), M. mykytowyczi Womersley, M. novaezelandiae Emberson, M. paralius Halliday, M. penicilliger (Berlese), M. peniculatus Berlese, M. peregrinus Krantz, M. perglaber Filipponi &amp; Pegazzano, M. robustulus (Berlese), M. similis Krantz &amp; Filipponi, M. subbadius (Berlese), M. tenuirostris Krantz &amp; Filipponi, M. virgo Halliday. Macrocheles hyatti Krantz &amp; Filipponi has beenrecorded from Australia in error, and occurs only in New Zealand. Macrocheles scutatus (Berlese) is known from Australiaonly from a quarantine interception. Macrocheles lyallpurensis nom. nov. is proposed as areplacement name for M. krantzi Anwarullah &amp; Irshadfrom Pakistan (preoccupied by M. krantzi Evans &amp; Hyatt). A key is provided for the identification of all Australian species.