FIGURE 4. Miracarus grootaerti n in Description of a new species of cave mite, Miracarus grootaerti, and comparison with M. abeloosi, Lions, 1978 (Acari, Oribatida)

FIGURE 4. Miracarus grootaerti n. sp., female. (a) right laterodorsal lobe of a vulva extruded by heating in lactic acid and shown in lateral projection; gnathosoma to the right. Folds of the external wall of the vulva dorsally to the lobe incompletely represented. The distal fringe is made of excrescences prolonging the protruding part of the folds; the excrescences are seen more or less in front view except the one to the left which is shown more laterally. Hatching overlays the thickness of the tegument in sclerified zones seen in optical, longitudinal section. (b) genital papilla Va shown in its fullest length and according to an undetermined orientation. Optical, longitudinal section of the tegument of the papilla hatched. The sheath of the papilla is represented by its two lines of apparent outline, and the papilla is depicted as if the sheat is lacking. Additional observations are required to confirm that the sheath is not attached to the rim of the papilla but more distally and to verify whether the transverse and slightly sinuous line corresponds either to the line of attachment of the sheath or to a thin ridge extending onto the surface of the papilla.