Host–parasite interactions within terrestrial Parasitengona (Acari, Trombidiformes, Prostigmata)

Abstract

Published data on larvae of terrestrial Parasitengona that exploit members of the same group as hosts are summarized, and new, hitherto unpublished, records are provided. Larvae of 11 species have been recorded as parasitizing post-larval forms of 23 species assigned to the same cohort of mites. Of the 30 records involving different host [H] and parasite [P] sets, 10 apply to new observations. The members of the following families were found to enter within-cohort [H]–[P] interactions: Erythraeidae [H]–Erythraeidae [P]; Trombidiidae [H]–Erythraeidae [P]; Erythraeidae [H]–Trombidiidae [P]; Smarididae [H]–Trombidiidae [P]; Chyzeriidae [H]–Chyzeriidae [P]; Calyptostomatidae [H]–Johnstonianidae [P]; Trombidiidae [H]–Johnstonianidae [P]; Microtrombidiidae [H]–Johnstonianidae [P]; Johnstonianidae [H]–Johnstonianidae [P]. Hyperparasitism has been confirmed for members of Erythraeus cinereus (Dugès, 1834). Johnstoniana parva Wendt, Wohltmann, Eggers & Otto, 1994 remains the only species known to exclusively parasitize other Parasitengona. Of larvae that we tried to rear in laboratory, only J. parva was able to develop to the deutonymphal stage after parasitizing other Parasitengona. We argue that based on current evidence, terrestrial Parasitengona, except for J. parva, should be regarded as accidental parasites of members of the same cohort.

Keywords:

• Parasitengona
• mites
• ectoparasites
• host spectrum

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr. Pekka T. Lehtinen, Dr. Yuri M. Marusik, Dr. Seppo Koponen and the late Dr. Maria Gulvik for collecting the material from Finland, Russia and Norway. Our deep thanks go to the anonymous reviewers and to Dr. Andreas Wohltmann, who gave thoughtful feedback on this manuscript. The work on the manuscript was partly supported by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Grant in aid of research: N N303 301737).