Adult idiosomal setal patterns in the family Phytoseiidae (Acari: Gamasina)

ABSTRACT Forty-one pairs of setae and a single post-anal seta are known to occur on the idiosoma of adult Phytoseiidae. Twenty-one pairs and the post-anal seta are present on all known species in the family. Variations in the occurrence of the remaining 20 pairs produce different idiosomal setal patterns: 85 patterns for the adult females and 71 for the adult males. Comparisons of the setal patterns between different body areas show that there has been extensive homoplasy in the evolution of idiosomal setal patterns. Idiosomal chaetotaxy of the Phytoseiidae is compared to that of the Ascinae and the Otopheidomenidae.