THE FIRST RECORD OF THE GENUS ODIELLUS ( OPILIONES , PHALANGIIDAE ) IN TURKEY WITH SOME SEM STUDIES ON ITS MORPHOLOGY

Abstract The harvestmen species Odiellus lendli (Soerensen, 1894), with its genus Odiellus Roewer, 1923, was found in Anatolia. It represents a new record of Turkish harvestmen fauna. The characteristic features of this species are described and illustrated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies on the dorsal integument, ventral habitus, chelicerae, pedipalpus, trident, the ocularium and legs of female specimens are also presented. Localities of the collecting sites are photographed and plotted on a map.


INTRODUCTION
Knowledge of the harvestmen fauna of Turkey is poor and needs studying.So far, 61 species and 3 subspecies belonging to 7 families have been recorded from the country (Bayram et al., 2010;Kurt et al., 2010).
The genus Odiellus currently includes about 18 valid species, and is distributed all over the world (Hallan 2005, Martens 1978, Karaman, 2008).This genus is represented by five species on the Balkan Peninsula, Caucasus and Europe.These species are Odiellus spinosus (Bosc, 1792), O. lendli (Soerensen, 1894), O. granulatus (Canestrini, 1871), O. serbicus Karaman, 2008and O. zecariensis Mkheidze, 1952(Chemeris and Kovblyuk, 2005and Karaman, 2008).No member of this genus was previously known from Turkey.We have found the first representative of the genus from Turkey, O. lendli (Soerensen, 1894).This paper reports on the characteristic features of O. lendli and adds a genus and species to the harvestmen fauna of Turkey.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study was carried out in different periods between April and September 2008-2010 in the Gümüşhane and Bayburt provinces in Turkey.Harvestmen specimens were collected using pitfall traps and manual collection from their habitats.
The examined specimens were preserved in 70% ethanol and deposited in the Organic Agriculture Department of Şiran Vocational School, Gümüşhane University.The identification of species was made by a ZX61 Olympus stereomicroscope.All measurements are in millimeters.
For SEM studies, specimens were kept in 70% ethyl alcohol before being photographed by SEM.They were dried at 37°C in an oven for 30 min for dehydration and were fixed on copper stubs which were covered by two-sided sticky carbon paper.Afterwards, the specimens were coated with a thin layer of gold by a sputter coater in the electron microscopy unit of the University of Karadeniz Technical (Tra-bzon, Turkey).Finally, the specimens were photographed by SEM (JSM 6400)
Habitat (Figs. 9): This species was collected from under stone and leaf in the forest.