Systematic & Applied Acarology 22(2): 253–270 (2017) ISSN 1362-1971 (print) http://doi.org/10.11158/saa.22.2.9 ISSN 2056-6069 (online) Article http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:5A8972C2-4983-4CC1-BA46-CAC0DCCB2AD2 Supplementary description of Novophytoptus stipae Keifer 1962 (Acariformes, Eriophyoidea) with LT-SEM observation on mites from putatively conspecific populations: cryptic speciation or polyphagy of novophytoptines on phylogenetically remote hosts? PHILIPP E. CHETVERIKOV1,2,3,6, JAMES AMRINE4, GARY BAUCHAN5, RON OCHOA5, SOGDIANA I. SUKHAREVA2 & ANDREY E. VISHNYAKOV2 1 Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 1, 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia 2 Saint-Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab., 7/9, 199034, St. Petersburg, Russia 3 Tyumen State University, Semakova Str., 10, 625003, Tyumen, Russia 4 West Virginia University, Division of Plant & Soil Sciences, P.O.Box 6108, Morgantown, WV 26506-6108, USA 5 USDA-ARS, Electron & Confocal Microscopy Unit, Beltsville, Maryland, 20705, USA 6 Corresponding author:
[email protected] Abstract Supplementary descriptions of an infrequently encountered species Novophytoptus stipae Keifer 1962 (Eriophyoidea, Phytoptidae) from Achnatherum speciosum (Poaceae) based on topotypes recovered from dry plant material from California is given. Comparison of topotypes of N. stipae with fresh Novophytoptus mites from Juncus tenuis and J. balticus (Juncaceae) collected in West Virginia and Ohio failed to reveal distinct morphological differences sufficient enough to establish new taxa. All studied mites are considered belonging to one species, N. stipae. This is putatively an example of polyphagous eriophyoid species inhabiting phylogenetically remote hosts. Remarks on polyphagy and dispersal modes in eriophyoids are addressed. Uncommon features of the gnathosoma and the anal region of novophytoptines were discovered under LT-SEM.