Mites of the genus Holoparasitus Oudemans, 1936 (Mesostigmata: Parasitidae) in the British Isles Keith H. Hyatt Department of Zoology, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD Contents Synopsis Introduction .... Material External morphology Summary of classification Genus Holoparasitus Oudemans Key to species Descriptions of species . Acknowledgements . References 139 139 141 141 141 142 142 143 163 163 Synopsis The mites of the genus Holoparasitus Oudemans, 1936 occurring in the British Isles and the Channel Islands are revised. Five species are recorded of which two, H. lawrencei and H. maritimus, are new to science, and H. calcaratus (C. L. Koch, 1839) is recorded for the first time. A neotype is designated for H. calcaratus. Habitat and distribution data are given and keys to species for males and females are provided. Introduction The family Parasitidae comprises two subfamilies, the Parasitinae Oudemans, 1901 and the Pergamasinae Juvara-Bals, 1972. Hyatt (1980) has revised the British species of Parasitinae. Following Evans and Till (1979) the British Pergamasinae comprises the genera Pergamasus Berlese, 1904, Amblygamasus Berlese, 1904, Paragamasus Hull, 1918, Holoparasitus Oudemans, 1936 and Pergamasellus Evans, 1957. Of these, the first three were included by Bhattacharyya (1963) in his revision of the British species of Pergamasus sensu lato, whilst the monotypic genus Pergamasellus (of which specimens have so far been found only in two localities in southern England) is figured by Evans and Till (1979). The remaining genus, Holoparasitus, is revised in the present paper. The genus Holoparasitus has been mentioned in the British literature scarcely a dozen times and only four authors, Halbert (1915), Hull (1918), Turk and Turk (1952) and Turk (1953), discussed their determinations. Halbert (1915) recorded calcaratus Koch, pollicipatus Berlese and inornatus Berlese from the west coast of Ireland, but he attached reservations to his identifications. Hull (1918) recorded the same three taxa from north-east England. Turk and Turk (1952) recorded berlesei Oudemans and commented on the confused synonymy of this species, echoing the remarks of Oudemans (1936), whilst Turk (1953), in his 'Synonymic Catalogue of British Acari', listed all the above names plus four of Berlese's 'varieties' based on specimens in his own collection. The remaining authors have given species determinations without comment. Where these specimens are available for study they are referred to under the taxa they are considered to represent. Bull. Br. Mus. not. Hist. (Zool.) 52(4): 139-164 Issued 30 April 1987 139
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