| abstract | Fourteen specimens of a new species of oribatid mite, Hemileius hierrensis n. sp., have been found in soil from Hierro, one of the Canary Islands. This species presents the following features: 530-660 m long and 330-444 m wide. Rostrum rounded, lamellae costuliform without cusps; interlamellar setae remarkably longer than the lamellar ones, both of them beset with minute barbs. Sensillus with a club-shaped head provided with some short little thorns. Sublamella present, prolamella well developed. No tutorium; pedotecta weakly debeloped. Notogaster ovoid in shape, without pteromorphs. Disjugal suture arched. Notogastral surface smooth with four pairs of sacculi and ten pairs of notogastral setae of unequal length, ta, te and ti remarkably longer than the other setae.
This species is easily distinguishable from H. initialis Berlese because the latter shows all the notogastral setae of the same length; and from H. elongatus E. Pérez-Iñigo on account of the length of the interlamellar setae, that are shorter than the lamellar ones. |