Gardiner’s Giant Mite (Dicrogonatus gardineri)

Gardiner’s Giant Mite was described in 1912 based on specimens that were found in 1909 on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles where it inhabited the native forests at higher elevations.

“Male about 4 mm. in length, black-brown, not highly polished. Genital area in general design like that of H. longipes but with the prominences at its postero-lateral limits much more salient. Peritreme broadest in the middle and tapering to either end.
Legs moderately long and slender and only sparsely clothed with hairs; leg 1 with the tarso-metatarsus of the same colour as the rest of the animal and only slightly dilated, and with a fairly strong spur under the distal end of the patella; tarsi of legs 2, 3, and 4 with three terminal spurs, two being more or less dorsal and the third lateral on the external side, and small conical spur on the under surface towards the distal end – very small on leg 4.
Female about 4.5 mm., of the colour and general appearance of the male, but with the legs destitute of the patellar and infra-tarsal spurs. Genital area large, the median plate very broad, with sides almost rectilinear, and its anterior border a sinuous transverse line. Lateral plates very small and narrow; anterior plate very broad and shallow.
Two ♂ and two ♀, taken in the jungle, Mahé, at an elevation of over 1200 ft.
…” [1]

The species was never seen again and is considered extinct.

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syn. Holothyrus gardineri Warburton

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References:

[1] Cecil Warburton: The Acarina of the Seychelles. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London Ser. 2 Vol. 15: 349-360. 1912-1913

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edited: 19.08.2022