Pentamerismus ueckermanni sp. nov. (Figs. 1–8) FEMALE (n = 5). Color in life is red. Idiosoma broadly oval. Dimensions of holotype (range of measurements of paratypes in parentheses)—Length of body (excluding gnathosoma) 280 (233–245); (including gnathosoma) 325 (277–319); width 198 (193–198); length of leg I 135 (135–138); leg II 110 (109–117); leg III 100 (90–100); leg IV 114 (109– 116). Dorsum (Fig.1). Anterior margin of prodorsal shield deeply notched (Fig. 3). Prodorsum medially areolate-rugose and laterally lineate, area surrounding sejugal suture transversely lineate; opisthosoma areolaterugose anteriorly and lineate posteriorly; pores absent (Fig. 1). Dorsal setae rather slender, serrate; ve half distance ve-ve; lengths of dorsal setae as follows (range of measurements of paratypes in parentheses): ve 21 (21–24), sci 24 (24–24), sce 16(16–18), c1 15 (15–18), c 2 14 (14–16), c 3 16 (15–17), d1 10 (10–11), d2 10 (11– 14), d3 19 (18–20), e1 10 (9.7–11), e2 21 (20–24), e3 22 (22–24), f2 22 (21–24), f3 22 (21–24), h1 19 (17–20), h2 21 (19–21); distances between dorsal setae; ve-ve 46(42–44), ve-sci 43 (41–43), sci -sci 114 (114–116), sce-sce 160 (159–162), sci -sce 31 (30–33), c1-c1 47 (48–51), c1-c2 42 (37–41), c2-c3 34 (30–34), c2-c2 128 (124– 133), c3-c3 195 (179–195), c1-d1 39 (37–42), c2-d2 37 (34–40), c3-d3 48 (47–49), d1-d1 44 (40–43), d1-d2 48 (45– 51), d2-d3 31 (28–32), d2-d2 138(129 –138), d3-d3 194 (188–191), d1- e 1 49 (46–53), d2- e 3 28 (24–29), e1- e 1 36 (30–40), e1- e 2 79 (73–80), e2-e2 190 (169–184), e2- e 3 29 (24–26), e3-e3 172 (165–173), e3-f2 27 (23–28), e1-f2 66 (60–68), e2-f3 42 (40–47), f2- e 3 27 (24–28), f2-f2 143(124–157), f2-f3 26 (23–26), f3-f3 110 (108–112), f3-h2 27 (24–28), h1-h1 27 (27–34), e3-f2 28(24–28), f2-f3 25(25–26), h1-h2 27 (23–27), h2-h2 95 (72–81), e1-h1 79 (67– 77). Ve n t e r (Fig. 2). Intercoxal area and area posteriad of 4a finely striate (Fig 2); length of setae la 72(67–81), 1b 24(21–25), 1c 23(21–24), 2b 72(62–76), 2c 26 (22–27), 3a 76 (76– 86), 3c 20(17–24), 4a 72 (72–79), and 4c 20 (18–22). Venteral setae whip-like, setae 1a, 3a, 4a and 2b long and about three - four times longer than aggenital setae (ag) 22 (21–22). Pregenital and genital shields with transverse striae (Fig. 2); aggenital (ag) setae almost smooth and longer than genital setae (g1-2); inner pair (g1) posteriad of outer pair (g2); anal setae (ps1-3) shorter than genitals (g1-2), setae g1 15 (15–17), g2 19 (18–20), ps1 11 (10–13), ps 2 13 (10–14), ps3 13 (11– 13). Distances between genital area setae: ag-ag 31 (30–32), g1-g1 18 (18–18), g2-g2 38 (36–40), g1-g2 12 (10– 11). Gnathosoma (Figs 3–4). Rostrum extending beyond half of femur I (Fig. 4); palpus 5 segmented, palp tarsus with a solenidion and two eupathidia distally; palp tibia with two setae, palp femur with one dorsal seta (Fig. 3). Legs (Figs 5–8). Legs rather short, about one third length of the idiosoma. Setal formulae of leg segments as follows (including the specialized sensory setae such as solenidia in parentheses): coxae 3-2-1-1; trochanters 1-1-2-1; femora 4-4-2-1; genua 3-3-1-0; tibiae 4- 4-3-3; tarsi 8(1) - 8(1) -6-5. Dorsal setae thick and serrated (Figs. 5-8). Tarsus III and IV with four and three normal setae and two brush like setae respectively (Figs. 7-8). Tarsal claws hooked - like. Remarks. Pentamerismus ueckermanni resembles that of P. erythraus (Ewing, 1917) in having the prodorsum deeply notched anteriorly; the same setal formula for trochanters, femora; and tibiae. However it differs from the latter in that coxa I is provided with three instead of two setae, setae 1a are very long, 72 and the propodosomal setae are slender, linear, serrate instead of leaf like or spatulate; and in that dorso-lateral setae are slender, serrate instead of broadly spatulate; and the aggenital setae are longer than genital setae, whereas in P. erythraus, the genital setae about two times as long as aggenital setae. Male. Unknown Etymology. This species is named in honor of Dr. Eddie A. Ueckermann, ARC- Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria, who kindly helped Iranian Acarologists the past two decades. Material examined. Holotype female, was collected from Juniperus communis L., Behshahr, Mazandaran, Iran; 12 October, 1995, H. Barimani Varandi; four female paratypes with same collection data. The holotype female and two female paratypes are preserved as slide-mounted specimens in the Collection of Acarology Laboratory, University of Bu-Ali Sina, Hamadan, Iran; one female paratype will be deposited in the National Mite Collection of Arachnida, Plant Protection Research, Pretoria, South Africa and one female paratype will be deposited in the British Museum (Natural History), London, UK.

Published as part of Khanjani, Mohammad & Gotoh, Tetsuo, 2008, False spider mites of the genus Pentamerismus McGregor (Acari: Tenuipalpidae) from Iran, pp. 52-60 in Zootaxa 1768 on pages 54-56, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.182089