Description of Pseudoschoengastia petrolinensis n. sp. (Trombidiformes: Trombiculidae), and new records of chiggers from northeastern Brazil

ABSTRACT

The species Pseudoschoengastia petrolinensis n. sp. is described and illustrated below from specimens discovered parasitizing a white-eared opossum, Dildelphis albiventris Lund (Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae), in Carneiros, Petrolina municipality, Pernambuco state, Brazil. In addition the species Eutrombicula spipi and Quadraseta falconensis are also new records to Brazil. The D. albiventris is a new host record to Eutrombicula batatas, E. spipi, Q. falconensis, and the state of Pernambuco is a new locality for all these species.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:97650D6C-A920-402C-BA90-78B2AB9B6187

KEYWORDS:

• Mites
• ectoparasites
• mammals
• didelphimorphia
• pernambuco state

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Ana I Arraes-Santos, Ivo W.G. da Silva, Josenilton R. Santos, Lais F. Santos, and Mariana C. Fontalvo for their valuable help during the field Works; to Gabrielle Ribeiro de Andrade and Maria Cristina Ferreira do Rosário for technical contribution; to Beatriz Mauricio, Laboratório de Biologia Celular, Instituto Butantan, for the technical assistance in preparing the scanning electron micrographs and to Dr. Gregory Evans, APHIS-PPQ, USDA for the revision of the manuscript and his recommendations. To Ronald Ochoa, curator of Acari collection of the USNM (NMNH) which is housed at the Systematic Entomology Laboratory (BARC-USDA-ARS), by the access to the type series examined.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico under the Grant CNPq no. 377343/2015-3, CNPq no. 377342/2015-7, CNPq no. 454907/2014-1 and CNPq no. 377976/2014-8; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo under Grant FAPESP no. 2010/51875-9 and 2017/01416-7; Fundação de Amparo à Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco – FACEPE. This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001.