Evolutionary Ecology of Astigmatid Mites

Molecular identification of pathogenic house dust mites using 12S rRNA sequences

“…The possible relationships that have been proposed for the Pyroglyphidae, Glycyphagidae, Echimyopodidae, and Acaridae families suggest that the latter three evolved separately from the Pyroglyphidae [1,[12][13][14][15]. This hypothesis was partially supported by our 12S rRNA sequence analyses.…”

“…Furthermore, these latter families share common variant sequences (DpteronA and AovatusA). This was a surprising finding due to the fact that these two species differ not only in their proposed migration patterns (Ao from terrestrial mammalian nests and Dp from ground bird-nests dwellers) [14,16], but also in their morphological characters (pictorial keys) (Collof, 1998b).…”

“…Criteria for these relationships include morphological and allergenic evidence [10,11], physiological responses to the environment, mites associations with birds and small mammals' nests [12][13][14][15][16] as well as geographic distribution [1]. Based on this type of evidence, for example, it has been postulated that the Astigmata suborder evolved from a common soil-dwelling ancestor (the Oribatida) [1].…”

Report of mite, Sancassania karnatakaensis (Krishna Rao and Ranganath, 1982) as a potential bioagent of white grub species, Lepidiota mansueta Burmeister with taxonomic notes

“…Sancassania is known as a phoretic or saprophage or necrophage of beetles that feeds on dead hosts (OConnor, 1982), where they attach to an insect, wait until it dies and then consume the dead insect. But in present study, S. karnatakaensis was found to associate with the live larvae and complete all developmental stages on the white grub, L. mansueta grub.…”

Cleaner Mites: Sanitary Mutualism in the Miniature Ecosystem of Neotropical Bee Nests

“…For instance, some parasitic mites are found preferentially on female hosts, presumably to disperse to new nests, while others are found in males and are transferred to females during copulation (OConnor 1982;Cowan 1984). Other bee mites do not exhibit such sex-based associations (Cross andBohart 1969, 1992;OConnor 1982;Houston 1987;Okabe and Makino 2003).…”