Morphological ontogeny of Proteremaeus oralensis sp. nov. (Acari: Oribatida: Eremaeidae) from Kazakhstan, and comments on Proteremaeus Piffl

The morphological ontogeny of Proteremaeus oralensissp. nov. from the elderberry litter (Sambucus nigra L.) from Kazakhstan is described and illustrated. The adult of this species is the most similar to that of P. macleani Behan-Pelletier, 1982, but differs from it mainly in the shape of lamellar complex, posterior notogastral tip, distribution of genital setae, and some leg characters. The juveniles of P. oralensis are oval, light-brown, with short prodorsal and gastronotal setae and clavate bothridial seta. The nymphs are quadrideficient and eupheredermous, i.e. they lack setae of d-series and carry the exuvial scalps of previous instars on the gastronotum. In the nymphs, setae p1 and h1 are inserted close to each other, and seta h2 is placed approximately at similar distances from seta p1 and p2.