A new species of Hemipteroseius (Acari: Otopheidomenidae) parasitic on Dysdercus (Hemiptera: Pyrrhocoridae) in India

Abstract

A new species of ectoparasitic mite, Hemipteroseius vikrami n. sp. (Mesostigmata: Otopheidomenidae), collected on Dysdercus koenigii (Fabricius) in New Delhi and D. cingulatus (Fabricius) in Varanasi, India is described. It is distinguished from other species of the genus in having the dorsal shield divided, podonotal shield with nine pairs and opisthonotal shield with four pairs of setae; setae j6, s6 and Z5 with bulbose/spatulate tips; tritosternum with two short slightly barbed lacinae; venter with four pairs of sternal setae, one pair on the sternal shield and three pairs placed posterolaterally; anus terminal; one pair of preanal setae; movable digit of chelicera with two teeth distally; macrosetae on genu I–IV and femur I–II with bulbose/spatulate tip. A list of species of Otopheidomenidae with details of distribution and hosts, key to species of Hemipteroseius and comparison of morphological characters of species are also provided.

A Carboniferous Mite on an Insect Reveals the Antiquity of an Inconspicuous Interaction

“…(Figure S3). Incidentally, this is the first report of an association of a Mesostigmata and of a Parasitengona with a gryllacridid orthopteran (previously reported on tettigonid and caeliferan Orthoptera [40][41][42]) and one of the very few cases when mites of two superorders have been found on a single host. We therefore assume that our knowledge of modern mite-arthropod interactions could be improved.…”

First record of Otopheidomenidae Treat, 1955 (Acari: Mesostigmata) in Saudi Arabia, with description of Nabiseius arabicus sp. nov.

“…Members of the mite family Otopheidomenidae Treat, 1955 (Acari: Mesostigmata) are parasites of insects. Otopheidomenidae comprises 3 subfamilies (Otopheidomeninae Treat, 1955;Treatiinae Wainstein, 1972;Katydiseiinae Fain and Lukoschus, 1983), 10 genera (Eickwortius Zhang, 1995;Entomoseius Evans, 1963;Hemipteroseius Costa, 1968;Katydiseius Fain and Lukoschus, 1983;Nabiseius Chant and Lindquist, 1965;Noctuiseius Prasad, 1968;Orthopteroseius Mo, 1996;Otopheidomenis Treat, 1955;Prasadiseius Wainstein, 1972;and Treatia Krantz and Khot, 1962), and 29 nominal species (Zhang, 1995;Menon et al, 2011). Zhang (1995) separated the 3 subfamilies based on the number of setae of dorsal and ventrianal shields in addition to their insect host preferences (Otopheidomeninae on Lepidoptera, Treatiinae on Hemiptera, and Katydiseiinae on Orthoptera).…”

“…Zhang (1995) separated the 3 subfamilies based on the number of setae of dorsal and ventrianal shields in addition to their insect host preferences (Otopheidomeninae on Lepidoptera, Treatiinae on Hemiptera, and Katydiseiinae on Orthoptera). A list of the 29 known species of Otopheidomenidae was presented by Menon et al (2011), including distribution and hosts. The genus Nabiseius was assigned to the subfamily Otopheidomeninae (type species, N. duplicisetus) by Chant and Lindquist (1965), while Zhang (1995) assigned it to Treatiinae because of its having more than 15 pairs of setae on the dorsal idiosoma, a normally developed tritosternum, and spermathecae of the phytoseiid type.…”