Mesostigmatid mites associated withOxysternon conspicillatum(Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae): a new species ofMacrocheles, description of the male ofM. magna, and four new records for Colombia

Does Restinga degradation impact the association between mites and dung beetles?

“…The mites were subsequently clarified during 48 h at room temperature (25°C) using 65% lactic acid and then mounted on microscope slides using Hoyer medium. Specimens were identified to species level using a Leica MDLS phase contrast microscope (Leica Microsystems, Wetzlar, Germany), with the aid of dichotomous keys present in Lindquist et al (2009), Hirschmann andWisniewski (1993), andQuintero-Gutiérrez et al (2020).…”

“…Furthermore, these insects are hosts for numerous invertebrate species that use them simply for transportation from one dung pad to another, especially a great diversity of mites (Parasitiformes and Acariformes) that exhibit phoretic behaviour (Noriega et al, 2022). Such behaviour occurs because these organisms have low dispersal capacities, which makes them dependent on their hosts to migrate over long distances (Quintero-Gutiérrez et al, 2020). For example, for Uropod (e.g., Uropoda genus) mites, there is a specific live stage and morphology to phoresy, where in the juvenile stage a structure is development only to "grab in the beetle" (or another host) body (Athias-Binche, 1993;Bajerlein et al, 2013Bajerlein et al, , 2016Bajerlein & Witaliński, 2012).…”

“…For Macrochelid mites, there are no body modifications, but these mites are soil predators, and the phoresy is a common dispersal behaviour for them (Grises et al, 2023). There are no parasitic species Macrochelidae (Bloszyk et al, 2002) and Uropod (Bajerlein et al, 2013(Bajerlein et al, , 2016, and the dung beetle is one of the most common hosts for these groups of mites (Bloszyk et al, 2002;Glida et al, 2003;Quintero-Gutiérrez et al, 2020). Thus, in ephemeral microhabitats, such as faeces and carcasses of vertebrates, mites may play an important role in the predation of eggs and larvae of coprophagous flies, including those of medical-veterinary interest (Azevedo et al, 2018;Grises et al, 2023).…”