Goodeniacarus, Beard & Seeman, 2025

Beard, Jennifer J. & Seeman, Owen D., 2025, Two new genera and six new species of flat mites (Prostigmata: Tenuipalpidae) from Goodeniaceae (Asterales) in Australia, Zootaxa 5637 (2), pp. 201-259 : 202

Goodeniacarus gen. nov. Beard & Seeman

Type species: Goodeniacarus rostulatus sp. nov. Beard & Seeman

Diagnosis. Female. Palps 3-segmented; palp tarsus with 2 terminal phaneres (1 long and 1 minute). Anterior margin of prodorsum with small median forked projection forming a notch; dorsal opisthosoma with 7 pairs of setae (c1, c3, d1, d3, e3, f3, h1 present; c2, d2, e1, e2, f2, h2 absent); dorsal setae short, fine with blunt rounded tips; 1–3 pairs of large pores present on opisthosoma (often with an associated minute pore visible, but difficult to see). Ventral and genital shields not developed, both regions membranous and merged together; 2 pairs of ps setae, anal valves membranous, ps2 and ps3 inserted longitudinally on anal valves; setae 4a elongate fine; lacking supernumerary coxal setae 3a2 and 4a2. Setal formulae for legs I – IV: cx 2-2-1-1, tr 1-1-2-1, fe 4-4-2-1/2, ge 3-3-0-0, ti 5-5-3-3, ta 9(1)-9(1)-5-5 respectively. Trochanter III with seta l′ blunt, delayed to adult. Femur IV with seta d present or absent. Setae on genua I–II all added in deutonymph. Tarsus I–II with seta tcʺ delayed to adult. Femora I–IV, genua I–II, tibiae I–IV usually with either or both setae d and l″ blunt. Tarsal claws and empodia pad-like.

Remarks. We cannot determine with certainty if the palp phaneres are eupathidia and/or setae. This genus has a thick microplate layer that persists intact even after mounting. This layer often obscures features, especially the minute dorsal pores. The ultrafine detail of this layer can be seen in the images taken using low temperature scanning electron microscopy (LTSEM) in Figures 6 , 9 , 11 , 14 , 31 .

Figures

FIGURE 6. Goodeniacarus reticulatus sp. nov. female, detail of dorsal opisthosoma; note the blunt dorsal setae and microplate layer. (LTSEM images take by Dr Gary Bauchan, USDA: E&MCU).

FIGURE 9. Goodeniacarus reticulatus sp. nov. adult female, detail of microplate layer and structure—A. female prodorsum with microplate layer, 2,000 X magnification; B. 7,000 X mag.; C., D. 20,000 X mag.

FIGURE 11. Goodeniacarus reticulatus sp. nov. adult male, detail of dorsum and microplate layer. (LTSEM images taken by Dr Gary Bauchan, USDA: E&MCU).

FIGURE 14. Goodeniacarus reticulatus sp. nov. adult male, detail of ps3 setae. (LTSEM image taken by Dr Gary Bauchan, USDA: E&MCU).

FIGURE 31. Goodeniacarus uri sp. nov. microplate layer and structure—A. detail of tarsus II of deutonymph (4,500 X magnification); B. microplates on male prodorsum at 10,000 X mag. (LTSEM images taken by Dr Gary Bauchan, USDA: E&MCU).