A new wood-inhabiting mite species of the genus Dendroseius Karg, 1965 (Acari, Mesostigmata, Rhodacaridae) from Central Europe (Slovakia)

A new rhodacarid mite of the genus Dendroseius Karg, 1965, D. reductussp. nov., was described based on females found in wood detritus and under bark of dead and dying poplar trees in a flood-plain forest in South Slovakia. The new species is unusual among the known congeners in the specifically formed triramous epistome of which the central projection is reduced in length, truncate, and markedly shorter than lateral ones. In other congeneric species, the anterior margin of the epistome possesses three pointed projections of similar size. A dichotomous key for identification of females of the world species classified in the genus Dendroseius is provided.