Mites (Acari) from Rattus species on Raoul Island

The following associations between rats and mites on Raoul and Meyer Islands, Kermadec group, are reported and discussed in relation to existing records from the South Pacific region. From Rattus norvegicus (Berkenhaut), the Norway rat, alone: Mesostigmata ‐ *Mesolaelaps australiensis (Hirst), *Parasitus sp.; Prostigmata ‐ an unidentified tetranychid and an unidentified tydeid; Astigmata ‐ Euroglyphus maynei (Cooreman); Cryptostigmata ‐ Nothrus biciliatus Koch, Tumerozetes sp. From the Norway rat and Rattus exulans (Peale), the Polynesian rat: Mesostigmata‐ *Gymnolaelaps annectans Womersley, *Laelaps nuttali Hirst, *Ornithonyssus bacoti (Hirst); Prostigmata ‐ *Radfordia ensifera (Poppe); Astigmata ‐ Tyro‐phagus palmarum Oudemans, T. putrescentiae (Schrank), T. similis Volgin, Glycyphagus domesticus (de Geer), feather‐mites. No species was found solely on the Polynesian rat. At least 19 species are represented: 6(*)—including 3 cosmopolitan species—are considered to be ectoparasitic on the rats; the remainder are probably casually associated. E. maynei is recorded from the Southern Hemisphere for the first time.