Hirstionyssus meridianus Zemskaya, 1955 Hirstionyssus meridianus Zemskaya 1955: 366, figs 785–789. Hirstionyssus meridianus Bregetova 1956: 179, 191, figs 416, 417, 420, 473–475; Lange 1958: 216, pl. LXXVII (П, Р); Allred 1969: 242; Zemskaya 1973: 89; Koroleva 1977: 138, figs 3(2), 6(7); Senotrusova 1987: 81, figs 39, 40; Mašán & Fend’a 2010: 142. Echinonyssus meridianus— Tenorio 1984: 272. Type locality: No exact locality was reported. Zemskaya (1955) mentioned H. eversmanni from the Volgograd Region of Russia and from Turkmenistan. Type series: Unknown (possibly in EMAMS). Type host: Two species of gerbils— Rhombomys opimus (Lichtenstein, 1823) and Meriones meridianus (Pallas, 1773). Host range: This mite is considered a specific parasite of gerbils of the genera Meriones and Rhombomys (Bretetova 1956; Zemskaya 1973). Distribution: The species is widely distributed in the Middle East and Central Asia (Tenorio 1984); the northwestern part of its range lies in the south of European Russia (Bregetova 1956). It is recorded from the Central Asian republics of the former USSR as well as from Armenia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northwestern China—Xin-jang are known (Bregetova 1956; Oganjanyan 1962; Zemskaya et al. 1975; Daniel 1977; Senotrusova 1987; Ye et al. 2000; Halliday et al. 2018). The presence of H. meridianus in the fauna of Asiatic Russia needs a confirmation. We include it in our check-list on the basis of a single record from Western Siberia (without exact locality) in the catalogue of SZM collection (see http://szmn.eco.nsc.ru/Inverteb/ Gamasina.htm). In addition, there is a single (and rather doubtful) record of this mite from the South Urals, the area adjacent to Western Siberia (Litvinova & Zavodova 1969). We consider this record as doubtful since the mites were collected from Microtus voles.

Published as part of Vinarski, Maxim V. & Korallo-Vinarskaya, Natalia P., 2020, An annotated catalogue of the gamasid mites associated with small mammals in Asiatic Russia. The family Hirstionyssidae (Acari: Mesostigmata: Gamasina), pp. 102-118 in Zootaxa 4838 (1) on page 109, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4838.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/4403711