Genus Trochometridium Cross, 1965, family Trochometridiidae

Bee Mites : Acari : Acariformes : Trombidiformes : Trochometridiidae

Genus Trochometridium Cross, 1965

Trochometridium Cross, 1965 116 (type species Trochometridium tribulatum Cross, 1965 by original designation).

Type speices Trochometridium tribulatum Cross, 1965 by original designation

Material (show database records).

General Description. The genus includes five nominal species. Trochometridium tribulatum Cross is a polyxenous cleptoparasite of ground nesting bees in the Nearctic and Afrotropic regions. Trochometridium iranicum Hajiqanbar and Khaustov, 2009 was collected from the halictid bee Pseudapis nilotica (Smith, 1875) in Iran. Trochometridium chinensis (Mahunka, 1966) is a polyxenous cleptoparasite of wasps (China, New Guinea) and dermapterans (Iran). Trochometridium kazachstanicum Khaustov et Eidelberg, 2002 was found on carabid and scarabeid beetles in Kazakhstan and Iran, while Trochometridium kermanicum Mortazavi et Hajiqanbar, 2011 was described from an elaterid beetle in Iran. In addition, an undescribed species was recorded from Lasioglossum eremaean in Australia (Cross and Bohart, 1979; Hajiqanbar et al., 2009; Khaustov et Eidelberg, 2002; Lindquist, 1986; Mortazavi et al., 2009; Walter et al., 2002).
Biology is only known for Trochometridium tribulatum.

Distribution (show map).

Species associated with bees.

References

Cross, E. A. 1965. The generic relationships of the family Pyemotidae (Acarina: Trombidiformes). The University of Kansas Science Bulletin.45: 29-275.

Cross, E. A. & G. E. Bohart. 1979. Some observations of the habits and distribution of Trochometridium Cross, 1965 (Acarina: Pyemotidae). Acarologia.20: 286-293.

Hajiqanbar, H., A. Khaustov, K. Kamali, A. Saboori & H. Kamali. 2009. New taxa of the family Trochometridiidae (Acari: Heterostigmata) associated with insects from Iran. Journal of Natural History.43: 2701-2722.

Khaustov, A. A. & M. M. Eidelberg. 2002. A new species of mites of the genus Trochometridium (Acarina: Heterostigmata: Trochometridiidae) from Kazakhstan. Acarina.10: 43-45.

Lindquist, E. E. 1986. The world genera of Tarsonemidae (Acari: Heterostigmata): A morphological, phylogenetic, and systematic revision, with a reclassification of family-group taxa in the Heterostigmata. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada.136: 1-517.

Mortazavi, A., H. Hajiqanbar & A. Saboori. 2011. A new species of the family Trochometridiidae (Acari: Heterostigmatina) associated with Paulusiella sp. (Coleoptera: Elateridae) from Iran Zootaxa.2746: 57-68.

Walter, D. E., J. J. Beard, K. L. Walker & K. Sparks. 2002. Of mites and bees: A review of mite-bee associations in Australia and a revision of Raymentia Womersley (Acari : Mesostigmata : Laelapidae), with the description of two new species of mites from Lasioglossum (Parasphecodes) spp. (Hymenoptera : Halictidae). Australian Journal of Entomology.41: 128-148.

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