Three new records of chigger mites (Acariformes: Trombiculidae) from Malaysia and a redescription of Schoengastia pseudoschuffneri (Walch, 1927)

Our collection of chigger mites from rats and tree shrews in Malaysia (Sabah) resulted in three new country records for Malaysia – Schoengastia pseudoschuffneri (Walch 1927), previously reported from Indonesia, India, and Vietnam; Leptotrombidium shuqui Wen and Xiang, 1984, described from the Yunnan Province of China; and Walchia fulleri Vercammen-Grandjean 1971, previously known from Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, China (Yunnan Province), Australia, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea. Furthermore, our review of the literature on S. pseudoschuffneri revealed that existing redescriptions of this species based on new material contain some differences from the original description. However, none of the previous authors have seen the type specimens of S. pseudoschuffneri, and the place of their deposition remains unknown. We therefore propose a new redescription based on our Malaysian material, which, based on key morphological characters, is closer to the type specimens.