Twenty-seven morphological characters from 101 heteromorphic deutonymphs of the mite genus Chaetodactylus Rondani, 1866 (Acari: Chaetodactylidae) were analyzed. The mites were collected from four species of bees of the genus Lithurgus Berthold, 1827 (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in the southern and northwestern United States, and Mexico (Socorro Is.). Principal component and discriminant function analyses on Darroch and Mosimann shape variables revealed the presence of two allopatric morphospecies: Chaetodactylus sp. 1, from Florida and Chaetodactylus sp. 2, from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Idaho. Ch. sp. 1 is associated with a single bee species, Lithurgus gibbosus Smith, 1853 in Florida. Ch. sp. 2 s. str. occurs on L. apicalis Cresson, 1875, L. littoralis Cockerell, 1917, and L. gibbosus. Two populations associated with L. planifrons Friese, 1908 in the United States and Mexico are partially separated from Ch. sp. 2 s. str. in the analysis, suggesting the presence of either an incipient species or strong host-related variance. No distinct groups separated by geographic locality were detected in either species. Ratios of characters that strongly contribute to species discrimination will be used in formal descriptions of the two species.
Species 1: Acari Chaetodactylidae Chaetodactylus
Species 2: Hymenoptera Megachilidae Lithurgus
Keywords: taxonomy
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