Life History of Macrocheles muscaedomesticae (Acarina: Macrochelidae), a Predator of the House Fly1

Generalist-feeding subterranean mites as potential biological control agents of immature corn rootworms

“…Gaeolaelaps aculeifer, S. miles, and Macrocheles species have been studied for biocontrol of dung flies (Axtell 1963;Rodriguez and Wade 1961;Wade and Rodriguez 1961;Krantz 1983;Wallace and Holm 1983;Halliday and Holm 1987), fungus gnat larvae (Wright and Chambers 1994), sciarid fly larvae (Enkegaard et al 1997), and thrips (Berndt et al 2004;Wiethoff et al 2004). Mites in the family Eviphididae (e.g.…”

“…Soil-dwelling predatory mites have primarily been investigated for control of thrips and fungus gnats in greenhouses (Wright and Chambers 1994;Enkegaard et al 1997;Berndt et al 2004;Wiethoff et al 2004), and dung flies (Axtell 1963;Rodriguez and Wade 1961;Wade and Rodriguez 1961;Wallace and Holm 1983). Native soil mites are potential candidates for conservation biocontrol strategies and as bioindicators (Karg 1968;Ruf 1998) because they are intimately linked to and affected by their environment.…”

Macrochelid Mites (Mesostigmata: Macrochelidae) as Biological Control Agents

“…Fly: M. domestica Filipponi and Cicolani ( 1974 ), Cicolani ( 1978 ), Soliman et al ( 1978 ) Nematodes: Rhabditidae Filipponi and Cicolani ( 1974 ), Cicolani ( 1978 ) M. merdarius Filipponi and Francaviglia ( 1964 ), Manning and Halliday ( 1994 ) Nematodes: Panagrellus sp., Rhabditidae Filipponi and Francaviglia ( 1964 ), Manning and Halliday ( 1994 ) M. muscaedomesticae M. domestica Castro ( 1945 , 1947 ), Filipponi ( 1959 ), Wade and Rodriguez ( 1961 ), Rodriguez et al ( 1962 ), Filipponi and Delupis ( 1963 ), Wallwork and Rodriguez ( 1963 ), Filipponi and Francaviglia ( 1964 ), O'Donnell and Axtell ( 1964 ), Kinn ( 1966 ),...…”

Rearing the house fly predator Carcinops pumilio (Erichson) (Coleoptera: Histeridae) using eggs and larvae of Drosophila melanogaster (Meigen) (Diptera: Drosophilidae) as prey

“…The C. pumilio adults that floated and those that moved on the inside of the container were removed with a camel's hair brush and quarantined for 10 days to clear them from the mite, Macrocheles muscaedomesticae (Scopoli) (Acarina: Macrochelidae). Wade and Rodriguez (1961) mention that the life span of this mite is 7 -10 days. This was done prior to introducing them to the Drosophila rearing medium in order to avoid contamination and subsequent feeding by the mite on the C. pumilio eggs, as was observed by Smith (1975).…”