Tiny hitchhikers and parasites: a review of Australian heterostigmatic mites (Acari: Prostigmata) associated with insects, with description of three new species

Abstract

Heterostigmatic mites (Heterostigmata) are highly diverse, have symbiotic associations with various insects and occur worldwide. Despite Australia's rich insect biodiversity, little is known about its heterostigmatic mites. In this study, we conducted a preliminary study on heterostigmatic mites associated with beetles in eastern Australia and found four species, of which three were new: Caraboacarus stammeri Krczal, 1959 (Caraboacaridae) and Eutarsopolipus orpheus Katlav & Seeman, sp. nov., (Podapolipidae) associated with Australian‐endemic Gnathaphanus melbournensis (Castelnau, 1867) (Carabidae); Hoplocheylus australiensis Katlav & Seeman, sp. nov., (Tarsocheylidae) phoretic on Australian‐endemic Mastachilus quaestionis (Kuwert, 1891) (Passalidae); and Pavania gazellatris Katlav & Seeman, sp. nov., (Dolichocybidae) phoretic on introduced Digitonthophagus gazella (Fabricius, 1787) (Scarabaeidae). The species of Caraboacaridae, Dolichocybidae and Tarsocheylidae are the first species records of these families in Australia. It is likely that two of the three new species are Australian endemics, while P. gazellatris may be a more recent arrival on introduced dung beetles, possibly arriving with imports of exotic adult dung beetles. Furthermore, we provide an overview of the heterostigmatic mite fauna of Australia that consists of less than 90 species belonging to 13 families, with representatives of all known seven superfamilies. These mites have so far been mostly reported on beetles but also on other insect orders (Blattodea, Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Orthoptera, Thysanoptera). Our findings of three new species and one new record based on the analysis of a relatively small number of specimens and beetle species suggest that more comprehensive studies of host insect taxa will reveal a substantially larger Australian diversity of heterostigmatic mites.

Sheltered life beneath elytra: three new species of Eutarsopolipus (Acari, Heterostigmatina, Podapolipidae) parasitizing Australian ground beetles

“…All coxal plates smooth; all coxal setae tiny needle-like; ap1-2 well developed, both reaching to appr; coxisternal field I with setae 1a 3 (3-4) and coxisternal field II with 2a 4 (3-4); alveoli of setae 1b and 2b not evident; coxisternal field III with setae 3a 7 (7-8) slightly longer than 3b 5 (5)(6). Distances between setae: 1a-1a 25 (26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35), 2a-2a 30 (31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45), 3a-3b 21 (23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28).…”

“…Plate D setae d 9 (8-9); cupuli ia anterolaterad setae d. Plate EF setae f 7 (7-8); cupuli im anterolaterad setae f. Plate H not evident; setae h 12 (9)(10)(11). Distances between setae: v 1 -v 1 30 (31)(32)(33)(34)(35), v 2 -v 2 61 (62-69), v 1 -v 2 19 (21)(22)(23)(24)(25), sc 1 -sc 1 74 (76-87), v 1 -sc 1 27 (27)(28)(29)(30)(31), sc 2 -sc 2 103 (113-125), sc 1 -sc 2 49 (51-56), c 1 -c 1 85 (91-99), c 1 -c 2 49 (58-63), d-d 101 (104-107), f-f 67 (70-74), h 1 -h 1 11 (14)(15)(16)(17)(18).…”

“…Australia is anticipated to harbour rich Eutarsopolipus fauna given its large diversity of carabid beetles [5]. This is inferred from small sampling efforts that have recently been conducted in some regions, and yet that discovered a considerable number of new species [31,[41][42][43][44]. Here, we describe three new species of Eutarsopolipus belonging to three different species groups (leytei, myzus, pterostichi) from three native Australian carabid beetles, raising the total number of Australian Eutarsopolipus to 30 species.…”

A New Species of Pavania (Acari: Heterostigmata: Dolichocybidae) Associated With Scarabaeus Typhon (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) From Russia

“…Dolichocybidae-a small family of early-derivative heterostigmatic mites-currently includes 2 subfamilies, 6 genera and 56 species (Hajiqanbar and Khaustov 2010;Rahiminejad et al 2011;Loghmani et al 2013;Katlav et al 2014Katlav et al , 2020Bahramian et al 2015;Mortazavi et al 2015;Sobhi et al 2017;Khaustov and Frolov 2017, 2018a, b, 2020Trach 2017, 2018;Khaustov 2017;Hajiqanbar et al 2019). Little is known about the behavioral patterns of dolichocybid mites, but all of them are probably fungivorous (Rack 1967;Magowski 1988;Kaliszewski et al 1995).…”

“…However, most dolichocybid mites are associated with insects (mostly beetles), utilizing them for phoresy (Khaustov and Trach 2017). The genus Pavania Lombardini is the largest in the family and includes 33 species, described from Eurasia, Africa, South America and Australia (Khaustov and Frolov 2020;Katlav et al 2020).…”