A new species of the genus Guntheria (Acari Trombiculidae) from a duck-billed platypus collected in the New South Wales

A. Fain and A.A. Stekolnikov

Belgian Journal of Entomology, 6(1): 69-73 (2004).

S U M M A R Y

A new species of chigger mites, Guntheria (Phyllacarus) ornithorhynchi sp. n., is described from a duck-billed platypus collected in the New South Wales, Australia. The new species differs from all other Guntheria in absence of eyes, pretarsala II, genuala and tibiala III. It is similar to Guntheria coorongensis (Hirst, 1929) in form of scutum, nude galeala, number and arrangement of idiosomal setae, but differs in having 1 genuala I versus 3, fPp = B/B/BNB versus B/B/NNN, absence of palpal subterminala, smaller scutum, shorter setae and in other characters.