Redescription of Tenuipalpus palosapis Corpuz-Raros (Trombidiformes: Tenuipalpidae) from the Philippines, with comparison to related species

Abstract

Tenuipalpus palosapis Corpuz-Raros, 1978 was described based on specimens collected on Anisoptera thurifera Blume and Shorea squamata Benth. and Hook.f. (both Dipterocarpaceae), from Laguna, Republic of the Philippines. In this article, we redescribe T. palosapis based on paratype specimens deposited at the National Insect and Mite Collection, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution (NMNH), located at Beltsville, Maryland, USA. We compare T. palosapis with three other morphologically similar species of Tenuipalpus from the Asia-Pacific region, Tenuipalpus antipodus Collyer (New Zealand), Tenuipalpus guamensis Baker (Guam), and Tenuipalpus orilloi Rimando (Republic of the Philippines), and we demonstrate that the females of these species share a well-developed and similarly shaped, genitoventral plate. Based on literature, the latter three species have been recorded on a broader range of host plants than has been recorded for many other species of Tenuipalpus, and have been intercepted at ports of entry in the United States and New Zealand. A key to these four species is provided.