| abstract | The present paper deals with four species of the genus Steatonyssus collected from China. Among them Steatonyssus sinicus sp. nov. is described as new to science and S. spinosus Willmann, S. superans Zemskaya and S. periblepharus Kolenati are recorded for the first time in China. A key to the Chinese known species of the genus Steatonyssus is appended.
Steatonyssus (Steatonyssus) sinicus, sp. nov.
Female (figs. 1-2) Podosomal plate with eleven pairs of setae, in which D1 slightly longer than V, the latter subequal to D2 and D4, and a little more than half length of the lateral pairs T, Sc, S2 and S3. Opisthosomal plate bearing six pairs of setae; S8 very small; M11 absent. Sternal plate reticulate, anterior and lateral margins not very sharply defined, posterior portion heavily sclerotized; St1 and St2 approximately equal in length, about two-thirds as long as St3. Anal plate with adanal setae a little longer than postanal seta. Peritreme extending anteriorly, either to posterior margin or usually to posterior one-fourth of coxa II; peritremal plate divided, the leaf-like anterior portion usually lying over the anterior half of coxa II and the posterior half of coxa I. Setae near opisthosomal margins becoming stouter and abruptly pointed. Length of tarsus I, 132-146µ; tarsus IV, 150-160µ.
Holotype, ♀, was collected off Eptesicus serotinus Schreber in May 1963 from Shanxi Province. Paratypes, 2♀♀, were collected off the same host of holotype, 2♀♀ off Miniopterus sp. in June 1966 from Peking, and 1♀ off Eptesicus serotinus in May 1963 from Fujian Province. All types are deposited in the Institute of Zoology, Academia Sinica.
The female of S. (S.) sinicus sp. nov. is similar to that of S.(S.) occidentalis (Ewing) in external features, but the number of setal pairs on the opisthosomal plate,the relative lengths of setae on the podosomal plate and on the sternal plate, and the measurements of tarsi I and IV, as described above, are diagnostic for the female of S.(S.) sinicus, sp. nov. The female of this new species is also similar to that of S.dalianensis Li, but in the latter, the opisthosomal plate bearing seven pairs of setae, the posterior portion of sternal plate not thickened, and the genitoventral plate without antero-medial projection. |