Tydeus munsteri

Taxonavigation

Taxonavigation: Tydeoidea
Superregnum: Eukaryota Cladus: Unikonta Cladus: Opisthokonta Cladus: Holozoa Regnum: Animalia Subregnum: Eumetazoa Cladus: Bilateria Cladus: Nephrozoa Cladus: Protostomia Cladus: Ecdysozoa Cladus: Panarthropoda Phylum: Arthropoda Subphylum: Chelicerata Classis: Arachnida Subclassis: Acari Superordo: Acariformes Ordo: Trombidiformes Subordo: Prostigmata Cohort: Eupodina Superfamilia: Tydeoidea

Familia: Tydeidae
Subfamilia: Tydeinae
Genus: Tydeus
Species: T. munsteri

The status, affinity, scope or nomenclature of this taxon is disputed.

Please see the discussion below or comments on the talk page.

Tydeus munsteri Meyer & Ryke, 1959

Type locality: from an unidentified wild shrub, Munster (South Africa).
Holotype: Institute for Zoological Research of the Potchefstroom University – ♀.

Tydeus munsteri, original combination and combination subsequently used by Kaźmierski (1998: 344) and Silva et al. (2016: 38)
Tydeus (Afrotydeus) munsteri, combination used by Baker (1970: 165)
Orthotydeus munsteri, combination used by André (1980: 128)

Type species of Afrotydeus (Baker, 1970: 165).
The genital chaetotaxy is not given in the original description by Meyer & Ryke. The authors wrote: "The genital opening is similar to that of T. grabouwi." According to Ueckermann & Grout (2007: 2364), authors clearly stated that T. munsteri has the same number of genital setae as T. grabouwi Meyer and Ryke, namely six."

Discussion

According to Baker (1970: 165), there are only 4 genitals in the adults [The information is reported and not discussed by Kaźmierski (1998: 344) and by Silva et al. (2016: 57)]. There are 6 genitals according to André (1980: 128) and Ueckermann & Grout (2007: 2364).
The hypothesis suggested by Ueckermann & Grout — the specimen Baker studied was a tritonymph — is all the more attractive as the confusion Adult-tritonymph was already made by him (see Perafrotydeus meyerae).

André, H.M. 1980. A generic revision of the family Tydeidae (Acari: Actinedida). IV. Generic descriptions, keys and conclusions. Bulletin et Annales de la Société Royale Belge d’Entomologie 116: 103–130, 139–168. Reference page.
Baker, E.W. 1970. The genus Tydeus: subgenera and species group with descriptions of new species (Acarina: Tydeidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 63: 163–177.
Kaźmierski, A. (1998) Tydeinae of the world: generic relationships, new and redescribed taxa and keys to all species. A revision of the subfamilies Pretydeinae and Tydeinae (Acari: Actinedida: Tydeidae) - part IV. Acta zoologica cracoviensia 41: 283–455.
Meyer, M.K.P. & Ryke, P.A.J. 1959. New species of mites of the families Tydeidae and Labidostommidae (Acarina: Prostigmata) collected from South African plants. Acarologia 1: 408–420.
Silva, G.L. da, Metzelthin, M.H., Silva, O.S. da & Ferla, N.J. 2016. Catalogue of the mite family Tydeidae (Acari: Prostigmata) with the world key to the species. Zootaxa 4135(1): 1–68. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4135.1.1. Reference page.
Ueckermann, E.A. & Grout, T.G. 2007. Tydeoid mites (Acari:Tydeidae, Edbakerellidae, Iolinidae) occurring on Citrus in southern Africa. Journal of Natural History 41: 2351–2378.