Is body size important? Seasonal changes in morphology in two grass-feeding Abacarus mites

Abstract

Overwintering strategies in herbivorous mites (Acariformes: Eriophyoidea) are poorly understood. A study of two Abacarus spp. was conducted to compare body size parameters of adult females in different seasons. Mites of Abacarus n. sp. (under description) and A. lolli were sampled from Bromopsis inermis and Lolium perenne, respectively, in April, September and December of 2001 in Poznań, Poland; 21 morphological traits were measured for each specimen. A principal component analysis revealed significant differences in body size parameters between collection dates, with larger females collected in December in both species. Larger body size in winter is consistent with the hypothesis that mites of these species, for which deutogyny has not been observed, undergo physiological changes such as accumulation of nutritional reserves, that enable them to withstand adverse environmental conditions. Larger body size has also been shown in other invertebrates to reduce heat loss in cold conditions. Filling gaps in the current knowledge of eriophyoid overwintering strategies, whether in the presence or absence of deutogyny, will contribute to both basic and applied future studies of this important arthropod group.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10493-017-0159-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Temperature (latitude) and nutrient (seabird guano) effects on limno-terrestrial Tardigrada (Testechiniscus spitsbergensisandPilatobius recamieri) body size

“…Body size is known to be related to longevity, fecundity, the ability to migrate, predator-prey interactions and host-parasite interactions, together with environmental factors such as latitude and altitude (e.g., Atkinson 1994;Johnson et al 2005;Gardner et al 2011;Bowden et al 2015;Laska et al 2017). The relationship between an organism's body size, temperature and latitude has been frequently discussed in recent literature (e.g., Blackburn et al 1999;Hildrew et al 2007;Gardner et al 2011;Moran & Woods 2012;O'Gorman et al 2012;Berke et al 2013;Horne et al 2015).…”

Temperature-dependent development and survival of an invasive genotype of wheat curl mite, Aceria tosichella

“…Many eriophyoid species have been recorded as agricultural pests, either due to their own feeding or as vectors of plant diseases (Navia et al 2010 ; de Lillo et al 2018 ). As such they have been employed as study subjects to test a variety of ecological hypotheses (Thomas and Hein 2003 ; Michalska et al 2010 ; Navia et al 2010 ; Oliveira-Hofman et al 2015 ; Wosula et al 2016 ; Kuczyński et al 2016 ; Laska et al 2017 , 2019 ; Kiedrowicz et al 2017 ). With this increased attention, there is a growing need for fundamental biological data from important eriophyoid species, such as data on their developmental responses to variations in ambient temperature and other abiotic factors that are essential to understanding their life histories and population dynamics.…”