Disparity of Phoresy in Mesostigmatid Mites upon Their Specific Carrier Ips typographus (Coleoptera: Scolytinae)

Abstract

Ips typographus Linnaeus, 1758, the most important pest of Norway spruce (Picea abies Linnaeus, 1753) from Eurasia has damaged, in the last decades, a large area of forest in Romania. Associations between beetles and their symbiotic fungi are well known compared to beetle-mite relationships. The objectives of the study are to determine: (i) the diversity of mites species associated with I. typographus in a local outbreak from Central Romania; (ii) the mite’s preferences concerning the body parts of their carriers; and (iii) how phoresy changes during seasonal flight activity of the host. A total of 7896 adult I. typographus were analyzed and six mite species (both adults and immature stages) were found: Dendrolaelaps quadrisetus Berlese,1920, Proctolaelaps fiseri Samsinak, 1960, Trichouropoda polytricha Vitzthum, 1923, Histiostoma piceae Scheucher, 1957, Uroobovella ipidis Vitzthum, 1923, and Uroobovella vinicolora Vitzthum, 1926. Most mites were observed under the carriers’ elytra (46.8%), while 26.7% and 25.8% were seen on the thorax and elytral declivities, respectively. Mite phoresy peaked in the spring corresponding to the dispersal flight of the carrier. A smaller peak in phoresy occurred in the summer during the second beetle generation.

Associations of Phoretic Mites on Bark Beetles of the Genus Ips in the Black Sea Mountains of Turkey

“…on I. acuminatus. In recent studies of phoretic mites on I. typographus in Romania, D. quadrisetus was the most abundant and frequent mite species, while less abundant was H. piceae [34]. Similar results were demonstrated in Spain on I. sexdentatus [35].…”

“…It is assumed that their biology and ecology are diverse [3,9,11] and they can be beneficial or detrimental to beetles [1]. They may be filter feeders of bacteria and yeasts [32], prey on nematodes [33,34], or they could prey on subcortical arthropods, even on small mites, eggs and immature stages of larger arthropods.…”

Four hundred and sixty-two mites for the ride: the phoretic companions of a historical Nicrophorus specimen (Coleoptera, Silphidae)

“…3) bring the total number of mites detected in the voucher to 462. Hyperphoresy is a well-known phenomenon in the Acari, especially used by Uropodidae mites (Mesostigmata) (Bajerlein and Bloszyk 2003), but also reported for Astigmatina and Heterostigmata (Paraschiv andIsaia 2020, Baumann 2018).…”

Ectoparasitism of the Flightless Drosophila melanogaster and D. hydei by the Mite Blattisocius mali (Acari: Blattisociidae)

“…This preference may depend on the species and sex of the host [ 53 ]. It may also be associated with the selection of such places where the mite could avoid being removed by the host or mechanically damaged during transportation or where the host cuticle is soft and the mite’s mouthparts can easily be stuck into the host [ 63 , 64 , 65 ]. In our 24 h experiments, the fly’s cervix and the area close to coxa III were the most frequently selected sites of attachment by B. mali females.…”

“…It should be noted, however, that their specimens were collected from the field and referred to other fruit fly species. As suggested by Paraschive and Isaia [ 65 ], the location of mites on insects may be influenced by host population dynamics, diversity of mite species, time of season, or even the method of preserving hosts. In the studies by Lehtinen and Aspi [ 15 ], four Drosophilinae species were collected, and all B. mali specimens, mostly deutonymphs, were located under the fruit fly head, as in our study, but with the chelicerae stuck between the legs of the first pair, not in the cervix.…”