''Aberoptus championus'' is a species of

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

belonging to the family

Eriophyidae Eriophyidae is a family of more than 200 genera of mites, which live as plant parasites, commonly causing galls or other damage to the plant tissues and hence known as gall mites. About 3,600 species have been described, but this is probably l ...

. It is only known from females collected from underneath the leaves of '' Bauhinia championii'' in central

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. This is a virtually microscopic animal, with a length of only 120 μm. It is flattened and

fusiform Fusiform means having a spindle-like shape that is wide in the middle and tapers at both ends. It is similar to the lemon-shape, but often implies a focal broadening of a structure that continues from one or both ends, such as an aneurysm on a b ...

in shape. It can be distinguished from its closest congener, ''

Aberoptus platessoides ''Aberoptus'' is a genus of mites belonging to the family Eriophyidae. These tiny mites, flattened in shape, live beneath the waxy layer on the underside of the leaves of certain plants. Species Species include: *''Aberoptus cerostructor ''Ab ...

'', by the lack of

seta In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. Th ...

e on the

tibiae The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

of the first pair of legs.

References

* Eriophyidae Animals described in 2005 Invertebrates of Taiwan {{Trombidiformes-stub