First records of mites of the genus Geckobia Mégnin (Acariformes: Prostigmata: Pterygosomatidae) in Kazakhstan with description of a new species

The paper presents the first records of two Geckobia species from common geckos (Squamata: Gekkonidae) in Kazakhstan: Geckobia turkestana Hirst, 1926 from Mediodactylus russowii and G. paraskivi sp. n. from Tenuidactylus caspius. Geckobia turkestana is redescribed based on the collected material; morphological variability of the ventral lanceolate setae in this species has been detected. Geckobia paraskivi sp. nov. is morphologically close to G. hirsti Bochkov and Mironov, 2000 from Turkmenistan and differs from the latter in a number of important features: the absence of setae on trochanter IV, the presence of 12 setae on tarsi I with (it’ and it” absent), and the presence of four pairs of genital setae. The indicated differences in the chaetotaxy of the legs make allocating the new species to the same groups as G. hirsti infeasible. This work presents an updated key to Palearctic species.