Intraspecific variation of body size in a gamasid mite Laelaps clethrionomydis: environment, geography and host dependence

Abstract

We investigated intraspecific variation in body size of an ectoparasitic gamasid mite, Laelaps clethrionomydis, across 12 localities in the Palearctic. We asked whether mites collected from the same host species in different localities or from different host species in the same locality vary in body size. Within host species, mites collected in different localities differed significantly in body size, tending to be larger in northern than in southern localities. In addition, mite body size correlated negatively with mean annual temperature in a locality. Mites collected from different hosts in the same locality differed significantly in body size when hosts belonged to different genera but did not differ when collected from congeneric hosts. We conclude that intraspecific variation in mite body size is caused by interplay of environmental and host-related factors.

Contrasting latitudinal gradients of body size in helminth parasites and their hosts

“…Parasite species offer an interesting organismal system for exploring latitude–body size relationships. To date, latitude–body size relationships for parasitic species have focused on isolated taxonomic subsets of parasites and have found a range of relationships (Korallo‐Vinarskaya, Vinarski, Khokhlova, Shenbrot, & Krasnov, ; Poulin, ). For example, monogeneans had larger adults at higher latitudes (Poulin, ), whereas no relationship with latitude was found for trematode species (Poulin, ).…”

Body Size and Symmetry Properties of Termite Soldiers Under Two Intraspecific Competition Scenarios

“…Body size is a life-history trait that has been used in insects as an indicator of developmental stress (Warren et al, 2006;Couret and Benedict, 2014). Intraspecific competition as a stress factor has been described in literature (Heinrich, 1993;Warren et al, 2006;Amarillo-Suárez et al, 2011;Wills et al, 2014;Korallo-Vinarskaya et al, 2015). In territorial species where interference competition occurs with physical encounters displayed, larger individuals have better chances to win a fight and monopolize resources than smaller individuals (Price et al, 2011;Bespalova and Helms, 2014;Holland et al, 2021).…”

“…On the other hand, body size is a life-history trait which has been used in insects as an indicator of developmental stress (Warren et al, 2006;Couret and Benedict, 2014). Thus, the effect of factors such as altitude (Cushman et al, 1993;Smith et al, 2007;Hoiss et al, 2012), temperature (Bochdanovits and De Jong, 2003), and competition (Heinrich, 1993;Warren et al, 2006;Amarillo-Suárez et al, 2011;Wills et al, 2014;Korallo-Vinarskaya et al, 2015) during insect development are important predictors of body size outcome.…”

Spatial and temporal variation of compositional, functional, and phylogenetic diversity in ectoparasite infracommunities harboured by small mammals

“…Both phenomena are likely true for parasitic gamasids as well. This is indirectly supported by the finding of the effect of a geographic location's mean annual temperature on intraspecific variation in the body size of a parasitic gamasid Laelaps clethrionomidis (Korallo-Vinarskaya et al ., 2015). Obviously, climate variables, as well as soil structure, vary between habitats of different types and situated in different climatic zones.…”