Bee Mites : Acari : Acariformes : Sarcoptiformes : Chaetodactylidae : Roubikia
Roubikia panamensis (Baker, Roubik and Delfinado-Baker, 1987)
Chaetodactylus panamensis: Baker et al., 1987: 67; Roubik, 1987: 75.
Roubikia panamensis OConnor, 1993a: 345; Van Asselt, 2000: 225; Klimov & OConnor, 2007: 819; Klimov et al., 2007a: 1371; Klimov et al., 2007b: 116; Klimov & OConnor, 2008: 103.
'Chaetodactylus' panamensis OConnor, 1988: 341.
Chaetodactylus panamaensis Qu et al., 2003: 60 (lapsus)
Material (show database records). Holotype: female - PANAMA: Panamá, Curundú, nest of Tetrapedia sp. (aff. maura), 19 Sep 1982, D. Roubik, USNM (Note date is different from that originally published). Paratypes: 2f, 1m hmm, 7PNs, 1L – same data as holotype; 1f, 1m htm, 13PNs, 3L - same data, 31 Jul 1984; 1+3 HDNs - same data, ex Tetrapedia sp. leg hairs + hind leg, 25 Apr 1984, D. Roubik, USNM. Additional material: 20 HDNs – same data, ex Tetrapedia maura on 1st metasomal tergite, 16 Dec 1981, D. Roubik #12, USNM, BMOC 96-0510-208; 1HDN - Darien Prov., Bayano Bridge, ex Tetrapedia dorsal pronotum, 16 May 1980, D. Roubik #6, UMMZ BMOC 91-0103-002; 8 HDNs - same data, lateral and ventral mesosoma, BMOC 91-0103-004; 1 HDN - same data, on propodeum, BMOC 91-0103-005; 14 HDNs - BOLIVIA: Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Jardín Botanico, Coelioxoides waltheriae on 1st metasomal tergite, 2 Aug 1976, Porter & Calmbacher, AMNH, BMOC 04-0508-245; 15 HDNs - BRAZIL: Minas Gerais, Varginha, ex Tetrapedia sp 1 on propodeum, Feb 1972, M. Alvarenga, AMNH, BMOC 04-0508-253; 19 HDNs - Pará, ex Tetrapedia diversipes on mesosoma & metasoma (Cornell lot 546, sub 262), no date, Baker coll., CUIC, BMOC 87-0606-002; 14 HDNs - São Paulo, Campinas, ex Tetrapedia diversipes on mesosoma, 5 Jun 1972 R.M. Bohart USNM, BMOC 96-0510-207; 22 HDNs - Jundiaí, ex Tetrapedia peckoltii on mesosoma & behind head, 14 Mar 1909, Schrottky, CUIC, BMOC 87-0606-001; 9 HDNs - ex Tetrapedia on mesosoma (Cornell lot 298), no date, Hammar coll., CUIC, BMOC 87-0606-003; 19 HDNs - FRENCH GUIANA, 3 km W. Kourou, ex Tetrapedia sp. anterior metasoma, legs II-III, some scattered over mesosoma, wings & head, 30 May 1981, D. Roubik #41, BMOC 91-0103-006; 20 HDNs - same data, lateral mesosoma, legs II-III and anterioventral on metasoma, BMOC 91-0103-007; 4 HDNs - MEXICO: Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, ex Tetrapedia sp. on 1st metasomal tergite, 26 Jul 1987, F.D. Parker, USNM, BMOC 96-0510-211; 13 HDNs - Nayarit, La Bajada, near San Blas, ex Tetrapedia sp. on 1st metasomal tergite, 21 May 1983, F.D. Parker, USNM, BMOC 96-0510-210; 5 HDNs – Tamaulipas, 17mi W Sotola Marina, ex Tetrapedia sp. on 1st metasomal tergite, 2 Jun 1978, Gillaspy USNM, BMOC 96-0510-209. Voucher specimens in AMNH, CUIC, UMMZ, UNAM, USNM.
Hosts.
Tetrapedia sp. (type host)
Tetrapedia diversipes Klug, 1810
Tetrapedia peckoltii Friese, 1899
Coelioxoides waltheriae Ducke, 1908 (cleptoparasite of Tetrapedia diversipes).
Distribution (show map). Panama (type locality), Mexico: Chiapas, Nayarit, Tamaulipas; French Guiana, Brazil, Bolivia.
Biology. In Brazil, mites associated with Tetrapedia diversipes were shown to be beneficial to the bee as the bee mortality rate in nests was inversely correlated to the level of mite infestation (Cordeiro et al., 2010). The mites presumably feed on fungi harmful to the bee larvae inside the bee nests (Cordeiro et al., 2010).
In Panama, Tetrapedia sp. nests primarily from the late dry season until the early wet season (April to July), and occasionally in the early dry season (November to February). The Tetrapedia female collects floral oils to combine with pollen provisions, and gathers dry soil to make partitions between the cells. Both materials are carried on the hairs of the tibial scopae. Soil in the cell partitions appeared to be admixed with a resinous substance and much of it formed small, shiny pellets less than a half of millimeter in diameter. Mature larvae produced fecal pellets, which are about 1.2 mm long and another, cigar-shaped. Several hundred mites were scattered among the two types of pellets. This was the approximate mite abundance in each of three completed nests having 5-6 bee cells. A nest containing young larvae had several mites in the loose soil fill between each cell and also on the pollen provision. The mites presumably fed on materials in the cells, and possibly on the fatty acids from floral oils mixed with some of the fill dirt. Mites were much more apparent in nests from which bees had emerged than in the nest containing young larvae. Adults of Tetrapedia routinely harbor mites on the basal metasomal tergites and hind legs, particularly on the scopae. A characteristic of Tetrapedia is their repeated visitation to small patches of dry soil in which females collect soil for nest construction. The mites apparently disperse to new nests by leaving a nest with emerging bees. An individual mite was seen wandering within a small (10 cm diameter) area in which three female Tetrapedia had been seen collecting loose dirt. The mites thus possibly disperse among female bees at such a restricted foraging spot, and they probably arrive at the nests of more than one apid bee in this manner (Roubik, 1987).
The shape and internal structure of the "nematodes" reported in the female spermathecae (OConnor, 1993a) are consistent with those of astigmatid mite spermatophores (Griffiths & Boczek, 1977)
Note. Probably a complex of species. Specimens from Panama have setae mG II as long as leg II (including claw), while in specimens from Mexico and Brazil, these setae are distinctly longer.
References
Baker, E. W., D. W. Roubik & M. Delfinado-Baker. 1987. The developmental stages and dimorphic males of Chaetodactylus panamensis, n. sp. (Acari: Chaetodactylidae) associated with solitary bee (Apoidea: Anthophoridae). International Journal of Acarology.13: 65-73.
Cordeiro, G. D., M. Taniguchi, C. H. W. Flechtmann & I. Alves-dos-Santos. 2010. Phoretic mites (Acari: Chaetodactylidae) associated with the solitary bee Tetrapedia diversipes (Apidae: Tetrapediini). Apidologie.
Griffiths, D. A. & J. Boczek. 1977. Spermatophores of some acaroid mites (Astigamata: Acarina). International Journal of Insect Morphology and Embryology.6: 231-238.
Klimov, P. B. & B. M. OConnor. 2007. Ancestral area analysis of chaetodactylid mites (Acari: Chaetodactylidae), with description of new early derivative genus and six new species from the Neotropics. Annals of the Entomological Society of America.100: 810-829.
Klimov, P. B., B. M. OConnor & L. L. Knowles. 2007a. Museum specimens and phylogenies elucidate ecology' s role in coevolutionary associations between mites and their bee hosts. Evolution.61: 1368-1379.
Klimov, P. B., S. B. Vinson & B. M. OConnor. 2007b. Acarinaria in associations of apid bees and chaetodactylid mites. Invertebrate Systematics.21: 109-136.
Klimov, P. B. & B. M. OConnor. 2008. Morphology, evolution, and host associations of bee-associated mites of the family Chaetodactylidae (Acari: Astigmata), with a monographic revision of North American taxa. Miscellaneous Publications Museum of Zoology University of Michigan.199: 1-243.
OConnor, B. M. 1988. Coevolution in astigmatid mite-bee associations. In Needham, G.R.; Page, R.E., Jr; Delfinado-Baker, M.; Bowman, C.E. [Eds]. African honey bees and bee mites. Ellis Horwood Ltd & John Wiley & Son, Chichester, New York, Brisbane etc. 1988: 1-572. Chapter pagination: 339-346.
OConnor, B. M. 1993. Generic relationships in the Chaetodactylidae (Acari: Astigmata) with description of a new genus. Acarologia.34: 345-362.
Okabe, K. & S. Makino. 2002. Phoretic mite fauna on the large carpenter bee Xylocopa appendiculata circumvolans (Hymenoptera: Apidae) with descriptions of its acarinaria on both sexes. Journal of Acarological Society of Japan.11: 73-84.
Qu, D., Y. Maeta, K. J. Nakatsuka, K. Kenji & M. Goubara. 2003. Reproductive strategy in the two species of cleptoparasitic astigmatid mites, Chaetodactylus nipponicus and Tortonia sp. (Acari: Chaetodactylidae and Suidasiidae), infesting Osmia cornifrons (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) II. Life history, phoretic positions, development and reproductivity. Japanese Journal of Entomology (New Series).6: 55-73.
Roubik, D. W. 1987. Notes on the biology of anthophorid bee Tetrapedia and the mite Chaetodactylus panamensis Baker, Roubik and Delfinado-Baker (Acari: Chaetodactylidae). International Journal of Acarology.13: 75-76.
Van Asselt, L. 2000. Observations on the life cycle of Chaetodactylus osmiae (Dufour, 1839) (Acari: Chaetodactylidae) parasitic on the solitary bee, Osmia rufa (L.), 1758 (Insecta: Hymenoptera) in Belgium. International Journal of Acarology.26: 221-228.
Image Gallery
B. OConnor and P. Klimov ©
Created: Jun 14, 2011
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