The First Report of the Feather Mite Alloptes obtusolobus (Acari: Alloptidae) from the Vega Gull Larus vegae (Charadriiformes: Laridae) in Korea

The First Report of the Feather Mite Alloptes obtusolobus (Acari: Alloptidae) from the Vega Gull Larus vegae (Charadriiformes: Laridae) in Korea

The alloptid feather mite Alloptes(Sternalloptes) obtusolobus Dubinin 1951, isolated from the Vega Gull Larus vegae Palmén, 1887 (Charadriiformes: Laridae), is recorded for the first time in Korea. This mite can be clearly distinguished from the closest species, A. (S.) oxylobus Dubinin, 1951, by the following characteristics: in males, the length of the gento-anal field is over 140, the distance between setae 4b and g is less than 2/5 the distance between setae g and h2, and setae 4a and ps3 are usually at the same transverse level; in females, the opisthosomal lobes are slightly shorter than wide at the base, the terminal cleft is equal to or shorter than the supranal concavity, and the ambulacral discs of legs IV extend slightly beyond the lobar apices. This study provides a morphological redescription of A. (S.) obtusolobus, supplemented with photographs and with partial sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I(COI) as the DNA barcode marker, since its recent record in the Korean fauna.