A New Species of Chigger Mite (Acari: Trombiculidae) from Rodents in Southwest China.

This paper describes a new species of chigger mite (Acari: Trombiculidae), Gahrliepia cangshanensis n. sp., from rodents in southwest China. The specimens were collected from Yunnan red-backed voles, Eothenomys miletus (Thomas, 1914), and a Chinese white-bellied rat, Niviventer confucianus (Milne-Edwards, 1871) in Yunnan Province. The new species is unique mainly in its number of dorsal setae (n=21), and it has the following features: fT (formula of palpotarsus)= 4B (B= branched), fp (formula of palpal seta)=B/N/N/N/B (N= naked), a broad tongue-shaped scutum with an almost straight posterior margin, and 17 PPLs (posterior posterolateral seta) with a length of 36-43 μm. This chigger mite may also infect other rodent hosts and may be distributed in other localities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]