Postembryonic development of Holaspulus tenuipes (Berlese, 1904) (Parasitiformes: Mesostigmata: Parholaspididae)

ABSTRACT

Holaspulus tenuipes was studied under laboratory conditions using a video recording of living individuals reared on nematodes (Panagrellus sp.) at 20–21°C. We report the duration of juvenile stages and intra-stage changes in body length and width in juveniles (within male and female ontogenies) and male and female adults. Duration of the larva was the shortest and duration of the deutonymph was the longest. Duration of juveniles did not differ significantly between male and female ontogenies. The size of protonymphs and deutonymphs significantly increased from the first day of life to the last day before moulting. Adults increased their size significantly during the first 15 days of life. The increase in length and width from the final size of earlier instar to the initial size of the next instar was in most cases statistically significant. There were no significant differences in body length between equally aged protonymphs of both ontogenies in the first day of life while on the last day before moult female protonymphs were significantly longer. Female deutonymphs were significantly longer and wider than equally aged deutonymphs of male ontogeny. Newly emerged females were significantly longer and wider than males and a similar result was obtained after 15 days of life in adults.

KEYWORDS:

• Mites
• ontogeny
• ontogenetic variability
• live imaging
• stage duration and size

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr Bruce Halliday (CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra, Australia) for the verification of species identification and help with access to Parholaspididae publications. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions that considerably improved the scientific value of this paper as well as the IJA Editorial Board for the professional cooperation throughout the publication process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.