Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences (2011) 10, 95–99

King Saud University

Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences

www.ksu.edu.sawww.sciencedirect.com

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Four new records of mites (Acari: Astigmata) phoretic

on insects in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Mohamed W. Negm *, Fahad J. Alatawi

Department of Plant Protection, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University,P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

Received 27 January 2011; accepted 3 April 2011Available online 17 May 2011

*

E

16

El

Pe

do

KEYWORDS

Phoretic mites;

Astigmata;

Mite fauna;

Saudi Arabia;

New records

Corresponding author.

-mail address: waleednegm@

58-077X ª 2011 King Saud

sevier B.V. All rights reserve

er review under responsibilit

i:10.1016/j.jssas.2011.04.001

Production and h

yahoo.c

Universit

d.

y of King

osting by E

Abstract A survey was carried out to investigate astigmatid mites associated with four unrelated

insect species, belonging to four families. The four insect species, Musca domestica (Linnaeus, 1785)

(Diptera: Muscidae), Labidura riparia (Pallas, 1773) (Dermaptera: Labiduridae), Gryllus bimacula-

tus (DeGeer, 1773) (Orthoptera: Gryllidae), and Periplaneta americana (Linnaeus, 1758) (Blattaria:

Blattidae), collected from different localities in Riyadh, were observed. Four astigmatid mites (Cal-

oglyphus csibbii Eraky, Histiostoma camphori Eraky, Histiostoma pickaxei Eraky and Shoker, and

Myianoetus lili Eraky) belonging to two families, Acaridae and Histiostomatidae, were recorded on

G. bimaculatus, L. riparia, P. americana, and M. domestica, respectively. All recorded mites are con-

sidered new to Saudi Arabian mite fauna. One individual of Copronomoia sphaerocerae (Vitzthum)

(Histiostomatidae) mite, previously recorded in Saudi Arabia, was found onM. domestica. For each

mite species found, notes on density and attachment sites are given. An identification key, based on

deutonymphal stages, for the five mite species reported in this study and other phoretic astigmatid

mites previously recorded on insects in Saudi Arabia is provided.ª 2011 King Saud University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

om (M.W. Negm).

y. Production and hosting by

Saud University.

lsevier

1. Introduction

The Astigmata is one of the most successful groups of mites inestablishing diversified interspecific relationships with both

vertebrates and invertebrates (Houck and OConnor, 1991).Among the arthropod hosts, astigmatid deutonymphs occuron different insect orders, mostly on Coleoptera, Hymenop-

tera, and Diptera. In order to be transported to other habitats,deutonymphs (hypopi) seek and attach to the surface of otherorganisms with sucker-like setal sockets on the venter of their

bodies and after insect migration they detach themselves fromthe host to colonize a new habitat (OConnor, 1982).

Mite fauna of Saudi Arabia has received a very little consid-

eration and the ground work for taxonomical, biological and

Table 1 Density and attachment sites of astigmatid deutonymphs found associated with four insect species in different locations of

Riyadh.

Mite species Insect host Mite density Location Attachment

Acaridae

Caloglyphus csibbii* Gryllus bimaculatus + Der’eiyah Dorsally on abdomen

Histiostomatidae (=Anoetidae)

Copronomoia sphaerocerae Musca domestica + Ouyainah Ventrally on thorax

Histiostoma camphori* Labidura riparia +++ Waseel On cerci

Histiostoma pickaxei* Periplaneta americana + Der’eiyah Coxae of legs II

Myianoetus lili* M. domestica ++ Hayer Ventrally on thorax

+, Low <10 mite individuals; ++, moderate 10–50 mite individuals; +++, high >50 mite individuals.* New records.

96 M.W. Negm, F.J. Alatawi

ecological studies of mites is extremely rare. Despite the impor-

tance of studying relationships between mites and their insecthosts, a few studies of mites associated with insects have beenreported in Saudi Arabia (Samsinak, 1979; Dabbour and Ab-

del-Aziz, 1982; Mashaly et al., 2011).However, the first work revealed the presence of mites asso-

ciated with insects in Saudi Arabia was made by Samsinak(1979), who reported six species belonging to different mite

groups associated with house fly Musca domestica (Linnaeus,1785) (Diptera: Muscidae). Among these six species, onlytwo species belong to Astigmata. Later, Dabbour and Abdel-

Aziz (1982) reported another unidentified species belongingto Astigmata on M. domestica.

The aims of the present work were to: (i) investigate astig-

matid mites on four insect species belonging to four differentfamilies, with given notes about density and attachment sitesfor each phoretic mite, (ii) examine previously recorded pho-retic astigmatid mites on insects in Saudi Arabia, and (iii) pro-

vide an identification key for both the newly recorded mitespecies found in this study and the previously recorded ones.The identification key presented will pave the way for further

taxonomic investigations in the Kingdom.

Figure 1 Acaridae, venter of hypopus.

2. Materials and methods

The study was conducted during the period from November2008 to April 2009. Four different insect species were irregu-larly sampled, namely M. domestica, Labidura riparia (Pallas,

1773), Gryllus bimaculatus (DeGeer, 1773) and Periplanetaamericana (Linnaeus, 1758) from different localities (Waseel,Hayer, Ouyainah, Der’eiyah) in Riyadh.

Insects were trapped using pitfall, sweeping and hand pick-ing. Samples were transported to the Acarology Laboratory,King Saud University for examination. Insects were examinedfor the presence of mites under a stereoscopic microscope at

40–120·. Each mite-infested insect was examined and photo-graphed separately. Different parts of the insect body (e.g.head, thorax, and abdomen) were examined for mites. The

numbers and locations of the attached mites were documented.Afterwards, each mite-infested insect was put in a glass vial

with Ethyl alcohol (70%) and the vial was shaken well to de-

tach mites from the insect body. A few mite individuals werestill attached to the insects bodies, they were separated byusing a very fine camel hair brush under the stereoscopic

microscope. Phoretic mites were cleared for a week in lactoph-enol (lactic acid:phenol crystals:distilled water 50:25:25),

mounted onto micro-slides with Hoyer’s medium and left to

be fully dried in a hot oven (40–50 �C) for 1–2 weeks (Zhang,2003). Identification and photography were performed with alight compound microscope (BX-51, Olympus, Japan)

equipped with a digital camera (DP-71, Olympus, Japan).All measurements were in micrometres (lm). The terminologyused in the key presented in this study follows Dindal (1990),Negm (2007) and Eraky and Osman (2008). Previously re-

corded phoretic mite species (Mashaly et al., 2011) were bor-rowed from the Museum of Zoology Department, KingSaud University and examined. An identification key for the

newly and previously recorded mites in Saudi Arabia wasestablished.

For further taxonomic studies, voucher species were depos-

ited as slide-mounted specimens in King Saud University Mu-seum of Arthropods (KSMA), College of Food andAgriculture Sciences, King Saud University.

3. Results and discussion

Five mite species belonging to two families of Astigmata

(Acaridae and Histiostomatidae) were found phoretic on fourinsect species (Table 1). Out of these five species, four are

Figure 2 Histiostomatidae, venter of hypopus.

Figure 3 Cosmoglyphus barbisetus, venter.

Figure 4 Caloglyphus csibbii, venter.

Figure 5 Forcellinia egyptiaca, venter.

Figure 6 Myianoetus lili, forked claw of leg III.

Four new records of mites (Acari: Astigmata) phoretic on insects in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 97

recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia (Caloglyphus csibbiiEraky, Histiostoma camphori Eraky, Histiostoma pickaxei Era-

ky and Shoker, and Myianoetus lili Eraky). The fifth species,Copronomoia (=Bonomoia) sphaerocerae (Vitzthum, 1922)found ventrally on a house fly thorax, was represented by only

one individual. Samsinak (1979) recorded C. sphaerocerae onM. domestica developing in excrements or dung in Saudi Ara-bia. Mites were found attached to different sites and append-

ages of insects with different densities (Table 1).C. csibbii individuals, the only species observed of Acari-

dae, were found phoretic on the dorsal side of the abdomen

of the collected crickets. They were observed at low numbers(Table 1). However, many species of Caloglyphus are knownto occur in sweat bee, honey bee, bumble bee and ant nestsas well as in many other habitats (Eickwort, 1990).

Figure 7 Copronomoia sphaerocerae, dorsum (after Negm,

2007).

98 M.W. Negm, F.J. Alatawi

In Saudi Arabia, Mashaly et al. (2011) recorded two acaridmite species, Forcellinia egyptiaca Eraky and Cosmoglyphusbarbisetus Eraky on two ant species, Monomorium niloticum

Emery, and Tapinoma simrothi Krausse, respectively.All other mites species (C. sphaerocerae, H. camphori, H.

pickaxei, and M. lili) obtained from this study belong to His-

tiostomatidae. This family is one of the largest families ofthe Astigmata and their deutonymphs are phoretic on insectscoexisting in (Kurosa and Tagami, 2006). Most species of

the genus Histiostoma Kramer have been recorded from dis-persing deutonymphs attached to insects discovered by ento-mologists (Tagami, 2007). This agrees with our findings ofH. camphori and H. pickaxei on L. riparia, and P. americana,

respectively. Samsinak (1979) recorded two histiostomatid spe-cies, Copronomoia sphaerocerae and Myianoetus diadematusWillmann on house flies in Wadi Khumra and Wadi Mutawi-

yah, Saudi Arabia. One unidentified species belonging to thesame genus Myianoetus was recorded on the same host inRiyadh (Dabbour and Abdel-Aziz, 1982). Also, Mashaly

et al. (2011) found one histiostomatid species, Histiostomasammari, associated with ant species Messor meridionalis An-dre. The identification key presented in this study includes all

phoretic astigmatid mite species previously recorded in SaudiArabia, therefore, should help other investigators in identify-ing this mite group in the Kingdom.

3.1. Identification key of Astigmata mites recorded on insects in Riyadh (Figs. 1–11)

3.1.1. Key to deutonymphs

1. All legs short and stout; legs III–IV segments not fused (clearly discriminated) and generally pointing posteriorly(Fig. 1)...........................................................................ACARIDAE..........................................................................................2

– All legs long and tapering; legs III–IV with femur-genu-tibia-tarsus fused, flexed at trochanter-femur articulation and gen-erally pointing anteriorly (Fig. 2).................................................HISTIOSTOMATIDAE...................................................4

2. Sucker plate far from posterior end of body (Fig. 3); body margins flattened, very wide; legs III and IV usually not visible fromabove; genua III–IV elongate, longer than femora III–IV......................................................................Cosmoglyphus barbisetus– Sucker plate near posterior end of body; body margins not flattened; legs III and IV usually visible from

above.......................................................................................................................................................................................3

3. Apodemes I and II short, thus epimeres I and II open (Fig. 4); propodosomal margin triangular in shape.......Caloglyphus csibbii

– All apodemes long, thus all epimeres closed (Fig. 5); propodosomal margin rounded...........................Forcellinia egyptiaca

4. Claws forked (tarsus of legs I–III) (Fig. 6)............................................................................................................Myianoetus lili– Claws undivided......................................................................................................................................................................5

5. Eyes present on anterolateral hysterosoma (Fig. 7); hysterosomatic setae scarce or missing..............Copronomoia sphaerocerae– Eyes absent; hysterosomatic setae present and clear............................................Histiostoma.................................................6

6. Epimere II closed (Fig. 8); prodorsal surface with a characteristic pattern of arcuate lines (Fig. 9).........................H. pickaxei– Epimere II open; prodorsal without such arcuate lines...........................................................................................................7

7. Dorsocentral setae longer than marginal ones; apodemes III close but not touching each other medially(Fig. 10).......................................................................................................................................................................H. sammari– All dorsal setae in same length; apodemes III free medially (Fig. 11)......................................................................H. camphori

Figure 8 Histiostoma pickaxei, venter.

Figure 9 Histiostoma pickaxei arrows showing arcuate lines of

prodorsum.

Figure 10 Histiostoma sammari, venter.

Figure 11 Histiostoma camphori, venter.

Four new records of mites (Acari: Astigmata) phoretic on insects in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 99

Acknowledgements

We are most grateful to Mr. Abdel-Gayed S. Ahmed, Acarol-ogy Laboratory, King Saud University, for collecting insect

specimens. We thank Dr. A. Mashaly for providing the previ-ously recorded phoretic mite specimens and Dr. S.A. Erakywho has helped in so many ways.

References

Dabbour, A.I., Abdel-Aziz, M.I., 1982. Scientific note on Acarina in

Saudi Arabia. J. Coll. Agric. King Saud Univ. 4, 113–116.

Dindal, D.L. (Ed.), 1990. Soil Biology Guide. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

(p. 1350).

Eickwort, G.C., 1990. Associations of mites with social insects. Annu.

Rev. Entomol. 35, 469–488.

Eraky, S.A., Osman, M.A., 2008. New identification key for some

Acaridides (Acaridida) from Upper Egypt, with description of a

new Acaridae species. Acarines 2, 49–60.

Houck, M.A., OConnor, B.M., 1991. Ecological and evolutionary

significance of phoresy in the Astigmata. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 36,

611–636.

Kurosa, K., Tagami, K., 2006. Studies on histiostomatid mites (Acari,

Astigmata) associated with the burying beetle, Nicrophorus concolor

Kraatz (Coleoptera, Silphidae). I. J. Acarol. Soc. Jpn. 15 (2), 129–138.

Mashaly, A.M.A., Shoker, N.I., Negm, M.W., 2011. Observations on

mites (Arachnida: Acari) associated with three ant species (Hyme-

noptera: Formicidae), from Saudi Arabia. Pakistan J. Zool. 43 (6).

Negm, M.W., 2007. Taxonomy and ecology of some acarid and

histiostomatid mite species in Assiut Governorate. M.Sc. Thesis.

Assiut University. p. 100.

OConnor, B.M., 1982. Evolutionary ecology of astigmatid mites.

Annu. Rev. Entomol. 27, 385–409.

Samsinak, K., 1979. Mites of Saudi Arabia, Acari from Musca

domestica. Fauna of Saudi Arabia I, 69–74.

Tagami, K., 2007. Description of adults and redescription of

deutonymphs of Histiostoma darwishii Eraky, 1994 (Astigmata,

Histiostomatidae), an associate of Parasitus fimetorum Berlese

(Mesostigmata: Parasitidae). Internat. J. Acarol. 33 (1), 79–85.

Zhang, Z.-Q., 2003. Mites of Greenhouses: Identification, Biology, and

Control. CABI Publishing (p. 244).