Taxonomic Position

Cohort Gamasina

    Subcohort Dermanyssiae

  Superfamily Ascoidea

Family: Melicharidae (=Ascidae, Melicharinae)

Rhinoseius Baker & Yunker, Tropicoseius Baker & Yunker, Xanthippe Naskrecki & Colwell

 

Diagnostic characters:

• Melicharinae with dorsal shield deeply incised (i.e. schizodorsal) and lacking seta z3

• Movable digit with 0-1 tooth.

 

Ecology & Distribution.  Flower-inhabiting mites phoretic on hummingbirds or beetles (Xanthippe)

 

Similar taxa not in the Lucid key (see below): Orolaelaps De Leon, Mycolaelaps Lindquist

 

Similar taxa:

 

Key to the genera of Melicharinae

1.   Idiosoma narrow, dorsal shield greater than twice as long as wide; leg setation strongly neotenous, genua I-II-III-IV with 12-7-6-7 setae, tibiae with 11-7-6-6 setae; female lacking metasternal plates and with ventri-anal shield bearing 1-3 pairs of ventral setae in addition to circumanal setae.........Mycolaelaps

-    Idiosoma broader, legs not strongly neotenous, metasternal plates present or absent, only anal shield or separate anal and ventral shields............................................................................................2

2. Female with separate ventral shield bearing 4 pairs of setae between genital and anal shields; posterior connection of peritrematal shield to exopodal plate beside coxa IV broad (subequal to width of stigma); corniculi slender, acute; rows of deutosternal denticles narrow, in deep trough; epistome convex, smooth; movable chela of female unidentate...........................................................Proctogastrolaelaps

-   Ventral area not sclerotized, only small anal shield with 3 circumanal setae present..........................3

3.  Fixed chela of female and nymphs with pointed or rounded flange-like projection distally; leg IV with 1 or 2 erect macrosetae on telotarsus (pd2, +/- ad2); 3rd pair of sternal pores absent.......Mucroseius

-    Fixed chela without distal flange-like projection; leg IV usually without macrosetae; 3rd pair of sternal pores usually present ..........................................................................................................................4

4.  Dorsal shield of adults with pair of deep midlateral incisions, lacking setae z3 on podonotal region; movable chela with 0 or 1 tooth; female without metasternal plates..........................................................6

-   Dorsal shield of adults entire, usually with setae z3 on podonotal region; movable chela with 3 teeth; with or without metasternal plates............................................................................................................5      

5.  Adults with 7-13 pairs of marginal (r-R) setae on soft lateral cuticle (rarely fewer if some r-R setae lacking); female with 14-15 pairs of setae on opisthonotal region of dorsal shield and lacking metasternal plates (except in Orolaelaps)..................................................................................................Melichares

-   Adults with 1-4 pairs of posterior marginal (R) setae on soft ventro-lateral cuticle, all others on edge of dorsal shield; female with 18-22 pairs of setae on opisthonotal region of dorsal shield; female usually with metasternal plates .................................................................................................. Proctolaelaps

6.  Movable chela unidentate; female with 1st pair of sternal setae on soft cuticle in front of sternal shield; male with separate ventral & anal shields; male leg II with tarsal seta pv1 unmodified.........Xanthippe

-    Movable chela edentate; female with first pair of sternal setae on sternal shield; male usually with consolidated ventrianal shield; male leg II with apical tarsal seta pv-1 slightly to conspicuously thickened....7

7.  Tibiae III and IV with 9 and 10 setae respectively (pl2 present); dorsal shield with setae s6; female with hyaline anterior margin of epigynial shield rounded, and with genital setae on lateral edges of this shield; male tarsus II with seta pv-1 knob- or spine-like, and tarsus III with 1-3 setae (always av2) knob-like; male spermatodactyl directed anteriorly........................................................................... Tropicoseius

-     Tibiae III and IV with 8 and 9 setae respectively (pl2 absent); dorsal shield lacking setae s6; female with hyaline anterior margin of epigynial shield usually truncated or emarginated, and with genital setae on soft cuticle flanking this shield; male tarsus II with seta pv1 but slightly thickened, and tarsus III without modified setae; male spermatodactyl directed posteroventrally................................... Rhinoseius

 

References

Colwell, R.K. & S. Naeem. 1994. Life-history patterns of hummingbird flower mites in relation to host phenology and morphology, in Mites: ecological and evolutionary analyses of life-history patterns , pp. 23–44, ed M.A. Houck. Chapman & Hall: New York

Krantz GW. 1986. A Manual of Acarology. Second edition, 1978, emended 1986. (Oregon State University Book Stores, Corvallis, Oregon USA).

Lindquist EE & Evans GO. 1965. Taxonomic concepts in the Ascidae, with a modified setal nomenclature for the idiosoma of the Gamasina (Acarina : Mesostigmata). Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada 47: 1-64.

Naskrecki P, Colwell RK.  1995.  New genus and two new species of Melicharini from Venezuela (Acari: Mesostigmata: Ascidae).  Annals of the Entomological Society of America 88: 284-293.

Naskrecki P, Colwell RK. 1998. Systematics and host plant affiliations of hummingbird flower mites of the genera Tropicoseius Baker and Yunker and Rhinoseius Baker and Yunker (Acari: Mesostigmata: Ascidae). Thomas Say Foundation Monographs, Entomological Society of America  ISBN 0-938522-67-1

Ohmer C, Fain A, Schuchmann K-L.  1991.  New ascid mites of the genera Rhinoseius Baker and Yunker, 1964, and Lasioseius Berlese, 1923 (Acari: Gamasida: Ascidae) associated with hummingbirds or hummingbird-pollinated flowers in southwestern Columbia.  J. Nat. Hist. 25: 481-497

OConnor BM, Colwell RK, Naeem S.  1997.  The flower mites of Trinidad III.  The genus Rhinoseius (Acari:Ascidae).  Miscellaneous Publications Museum of Zoology University of Michigan 184: 1-32.