Redefinition of the Genus Dolichocybe (Acari: Dolichocybidae), with Description of Two New Species Associated with Insects

Abstract

The genus DolichocybeKrantz, 1957 (Acari: Heterostigmatina: Dolichocybidae) is redefined and two new species associated with beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera) are described from Iran: Dolichocybe silvani Rahiminejad & Hajiqanbar n. sp. associated with Silvanus sp. (Coleoptera: Silvanidae) and Dolichocybe varkana Rahiminejad & Hajiqanbar n. sp. associated with Corticeus unicolor Piller & Mitterpacher, 1783 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). It is first record of the association between beetles of the family Silvanidae and Tenebrionidae and mites of the family Dolichocybidae. Also, it is first record of phoresy in the genus Dolichocybe. Chaetotaxy of tarsus I of the genus is discussed, host associations of the dolichocybids with insects are reviewed, and keys to the genera of the family and species of the genus Dolichocybe are presented.

A NEW SPECIES OF <i>PAVANIA</i> (ACARI: HETEROSTIGMATA: DOLICHOCYBIDAE) ASSOCIATED WITH <i>FRANKENBERGERIUS GOMESI</i> (COLEOPTERA: SCARABAEIDAE) FROM SOUTH AFRICA

“…The family Dolichocybidae is a small group of early-derivative heterostigmatic mites that currently includes 2 subfamilies, 6 genera and 44 species (Hajiqanbar and Khaustov 2010;Rahiminejad et al 2011;Zhang et al 2011;Loghmani et al 2013;Bahramian et al 2015;Sobhi et al 2017;Frolov 2017, 2018;Khaustov and Trach 2017;Khaustov 2017). Little is known about the behavior of dolichocybid mites, except that all of them are probably fungivorous (Rack 1967;Magowski 1988;Kaliszewski et al 1995).…”

A new genus and species of the family Microdispidae (Acari: Prostigmata) associated with Oryctes nasicornis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) and redescription of the monotypic genus Vietodispus Mahunka, 1975

“…Regarding the coleopterans hosts, they usually utilize woody debris, rotten wood, and decaying stumps in the forests. Such habitats include a vast variety of fungi (Grove 2002) that microdispids could exploit in a similar way to that observed in many adult female fungivorous heterostigmatic mites, e.g., Dolichocybidae (Rahiminejad et al 2011a;Katlav et al 2014), Scutacaridae (Jagersbacher-Baumann and Ebermann 2013), Neopygmephoridae (Hajiqanbar and Khaustov 2013), and Pygmephoridae (Rahiminejad et al 2011b;Hofstetter and Moser 2014).…”

“…It should be noted that the presence of three setae on tibia IV (d, l', and v') may be a reduction and could be as a result of homoplasy, as it is also found in Reductodispus Mahunka, 1977, but it is otherwise unique in Microdispidae. However, the loss of a tibial seta (v" absent) is found in several scutacarid genera and in the pygmephorid Elattoma (l' absent), one of the most derivative genera of the family Pygmephoridae (Khaustov 2006;Rahiminejad et al 2011a).…”

Two heterostigmatic mite species (Acari: Dolichocybidae, Podapolipidae) associated with Scarabaeus pius (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) from Iran

“…The genus Pavania now includes 20 species of which 9 (c. 50%) are phoretic on 4 genera of Scarabaeidae: Copris, Onthophagus, Gymnopleurous and Scarabaeidae (Cross 1965, Sevastianov 1980, Hajiqanbar & Khaustov 2010, Rahiminejad et al 2011, Loghmani et al 2013. Including Scarabaeus pius as a new host record for mites of the genus Pavania, the number of Scarabaeus species carrying mites of this genus is raised to 8 (see Table 1).…”

“…Mite specimens were cleared in lactophenol solution and mounted in Hoyer's medium. Terminology follows mostly that of Lindquist (1986) and in part (chaetotaxy of tarsus I of the Pavania) Rahiminejad et al (2011). The morphology of the mites was studied by a light microscope with phase contrast (Olympus BX51).…”