Mites coexistent with neotropical hispine beetles in unfurled leaves of Heliconia: a new genus and family of the Ascoidea (Acari: Mesostigmata: Gamasina)

Abstract

The genus Antennocheles gen. nov. is based on adults and nymphs of two newly described species associated with hispine beetles of the genera Chelobasis and Cephaloleia occupying unfurled leaves of Heliconia in lowland rainforest of Costa Rica. Within the superfamily Ascoidea, this taxon is so distinctive morphologically and behaviourally as to justify its own family, Antennochelidae, fam. nov. These mites bear remarkably elongated cheliceral shafts, which may extend for lengths greater than the body but are fully ensheathed in repose within the body. Other unique attributes include linear arrangement of hypostomatic setae, a pore-like structure beside the corniculus, and adults with a pair of unique sternal invaginations for enlarged muscle insertions. While undergoing their life history in water films of unfurled host leaves, the mites exhibit a slow, swimming-like behaviour in quest for prey. As leaves unfurl, adult mites run quickly off and on their hispine beetle phoronts for dispersal.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0876014C-1433-463B-B1A4-4CD6886F9D28

Keywords:

• Antennocheles
• Antennochelidae
• Ascoidea
• Costa Rica
• Hispinae
• Heliconia

View correction statement:

Corrigendum

Acknowledgements

Our thanks to Gerd Alberti and Antonella di Palma for consultation regarding morphological aspects of the gnathosoma of mesostigmatic mites, and to Jerry Krantz for identification of macrochelid mites. Particular thanks to Fred Beaulieu for a thorough reading with corrective comments for the manuscript. The technical expertise and field work of Danilo Brenes, Ronald Vargas, Maylin Paniagua and Nelci Oconitrillo in their former roles as parataxonomists in Project ALAS (Arthropods of La Selva) is greatly appreciated. Their work and field work of one of us (EEL) at La Selva, Costa Rica, was supported by National Science Foundation Grants BSR-9025024, DEB-9401069 and DEB-9706976. Our thanks also to David Galicia, Departamento de Biología Ambiental, Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, for work on the photomicrographs (Figures 15 and 16) of this mite, and Derek M. Johnson, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, for access to mite material associated with hispine beetles collected in Costa Rica.