Bee Mites : Acari : Parasitiformes : Mesostigmata : Parasitidae

 
Genus Parasitus  Latreille, 1795


Parasitus Latreille, 1795: 19 (Type species Acarus coleoptratorum Linnaeus, 1758); Richards, 1976: 732 (part.); Hyatt, 1980: 256 (his synonymy).
Parasitus (Coleogamasus) Tichomirov, 1969b: 1470 (type species Gamasus celer C. L. Koch, 1835 by original designation); Tichomirov, 1977: 61.


Type speices Acarus coleoptratorum Linnaeus, 1758


General Description. Species of this genus live in manure, dung, compost or other decaying organic substances. Many of them have broad geographic ranges. Usually, deutonymphs are phoretic on dung beetles (Hyatt, 1980).
Several occasional records are available from bumblebee nests: Parasitus fimetorum (Berlese, 1904) in North America and Europe (Hyatt, 1980; Richards, 1976); Parasitus beta Oudemans et Voigts, 1904, Parasitus coleoptratorum (Linnaeus, 1758), Parasitus cornutosimilis (Schweizer, 1949), Parasitus consanguineus (Oudemans & Voigts, 1904) and Parasitus loricatus (Wankel, 1861) in Europe (Hyatt, 1980; Karg, 1971). Parasitus coleoptratorum and Parasitus distinctus Berlese, 1903 were also found in honeybee hives (Apis mellifera) in Europe (De Jong et al., 1982; Grobov, 1975), and we have seen a single female of Parasitus aff. loricatus from a mammal nest in a bee hive (New York, Tompkins Co., Ithaca, 14 Dec 1976, V. Lazar, BMOC 76-1214-001).
We give an account on Parasitus fimetorum, because it frequently occurs in the nests of bumblebees in the United States and Canada (Richards, 1976; Richards and Richards, 1976). Athias-Henriot (1979) created a new genus for this species, Phorytocarpais Athias-Henriot, 1979, however, we accept here generic designation of Hyatt (1980).

Species found in association with bees.


    References
    Athias-Henriot, C. 1979. Ergebnisse der Bhutan-Expedition 1972 des Naturhistorischen Museums in Basel. Acari: Fam. Parasitidae. Entomologica Basiliensia.4: 5-12.
    de Jong, D. M., R.A.; Eickwort, G.C. 1982. Mite pests of honey bees. Annual Review of Entomology.27: 229-252.
    Grobov, O. F. 1975. [The mite fauna of the honeybee hive and stored honey.]. Trudy Vsesoyuznogo Instituta Eksperimental'noi Veterinarii.43: 255-267.
    Hyatt, K. H. 1980. Mites of the subfamily Parasitinae (Mesostigmata: Parasitidae) in the British Isles. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Zoology.38: 237-378.
    Latreille, P. A. 1795. Observations sur la variété des organs de la bouche des tiques, et distribution méthodique des insectes de cette famille d'après les caractères établis sur la conformation de ces organes. Magasin Encyclopédique, ou Journal des Sciences, des Lettres et des Arts, Paris.4.
    Richards, L. A. 1976. Parasitid mites associated with bumblebees in Alberta, Canada (Acarina: Parasitidae; Hymenoptera: Apidae). I. Taxonomy. University of Kansas Science Bulletin.50: 731-773.
    Richards, L. A. & K. W. Richards. 1976. Parasitid mites associated with bumblebees in Alberta, Canada (Acarina: Parasitidae; Hymenoptera: Apidae). II. Biology. University of Kansas Science Bulletin.51: 1-18.
    Tichomirov, S. I. 1969. [Morphological and ecological structure of the genus Parasitus sensu Micherdzinski, 1966 (Gamasoidea, Parasitidae). II. Subgenera Neogamasus subgen. n., Coleogamasus subgen, n.]. Zoologicheskiy Zhurnal.48: 1467-1477.
    Tichomirov, S. I. 1977. Family Parasitidae. In [Opredelitel' obytayshchikh v pochve kleshchey Mesostigmata = Identification key to soil-inhabiting mites Mesostigmata], eds. M. S. Gilarov & N. G. Bregetova, 55-107. Leningrad: Nauka.



     

     

    B. OConnor and P. Klimov ©
    Created: April 25, 2012
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