Ectoparasites of rodents in Southern Africa: a new species of Androlaelaps Berlese, 1903 (Acari: Parasitiformes: Laelapidae) from Rhabdomys pumilio (Sparrman) (Rodentia: Muridae).

Androlaelaps rhabdomysi n. sp. is described from the pelage of the endemic rodent Rhabdomys pumilio (Sparrman) in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. The formal taxonomic description and illustrations are derived from adults (female and male) and deutonymphs. The specimens are similar in appearance to two congeneric species A. dasymys (Radford, 1939) and A. fahrenholzi (Berlese, 1911), but differ in the following features: genital shield long and almost parallel-sided; metapodal shield elongate; and anal shield longer than wide. Furthermore, the pilus dentilis on the fixed cheliceral digit of A. rhabdomysi is a rather broad sausage-shape and slightly constricted medially, whereas in the other two species it has an inflated base and is slender distally.