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Alicorhagia
Alicorhagia Berlese, 1910: 243.
Type species: Alicorhagia fragilis Berlese, 1910 – holarctic (= Willania mira Oudemans 1931)
Alicorhagia usitata Theron et al., 1970 – cultivated soil in South Africa; many soils in Australia; Alicorhagia clavipilus (Sig Thor 1931) – Europe ( = Epistomalychus clavipilus Sig Thor 1931); Alicorhagia plumipilus (Sig Thor 1931) – Norway; Alicorhagia ‘bullocki’ Shiba 1996
DIAGNOSIS. Prodorsum with 1 pair of filiform trichobothria (sci = bo) and 5 pairs of setae; naso well developed and bearing setae vi = ro; median and lateral eyes absent. Subcapitulum with 6 pairs of setae; rutella slender, with distal teeth; chelicerae chelate-dentate, each with one seta. Opisthosomal setal rows C-D-E-F-H-PS-AD-AN with 4-2-2-3-3-3-4-4 pairs of setae, respectively; PA absent. Genital flaps with 7-10 pairs of setae in 2 rows; 2 pairs of genital papillae in adult. All pretarsi with a simple, claw-like empodium; lateral claws absent. Gut boluses composed of fungal hyphae, spores, and bits of small, soft-bodied invertebrates.
REMARKS. Alicorhagia fragilis is omnivorous and readily prey on nematodes. Larvae, protonymphs and deutonymphs spin silken webs before moulting (tritonymphs do not occur). The thelytokous females spin silken webs on which the eggs are laid and hatch into an elattostatic prelarva (Walter 1988). It’s not clear that the mite so beautifully illustrated by Grandjean is the same as Berlese’s species; however, A. fragilis appears to be widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere and A. usitata in the Southern Hemisphere.
SIMILAR TAXA. Species of Stigmalycus have bilobed rutella, are constricted behind legs IV, and have 3 pairs of genital papillae in the adults.
References
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