Zercon utemisovi sp. n. – a new species of Zerconidae (Parasitiformes: Mesostigmata) from Kazakhstan with notes on Zercon karadaghiensis Balan, 1992

ABSTRACT

Zercon utemisovi sp. n., (Parasitiformes: Mesostigmata: Zerconidae) from Kazakhstan is described and illustrated based on adults of both sexes. The new species is most similar to Zercon karadaghiensis, which we compare to our new species, and we note that mites previously identified as Z. karadaghiensis may include more than one species.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:410D246F-90BF-4FE6-81C7-4CAD64A9BAD3

KEYWORDS:

• New species
• mites
• Parasitiformes
• Mesostigmata
• Zerconidae
• Kazakhstan

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. B. Alzhanova and Dr. T. Darbayeva (West Kazakhstan State University, Uralsk) for their help during material collecting and Dr. R. B. Halliday (Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO, Canberra) and Dr. O.L. Makarova (Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Moscow) for their invaluable help with access to publications. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions that considerably improved the scientific value of this paper as well as the IJA Editorial Board for the professional cooperation throughout the publication process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.