Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Articles
Published: 2007-05-28
Page range: 51–68
Abstract views: 63
PDF downloaded: 52

Ascid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata: Ascidae) from Costa Rican hummingbirds (Aves: Trochilidae), with description of three new species and a key to the Proctolaelaps belemensis species group

Biology Centre of the AS CR , Institute of Parasitology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Branisovska 31, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
Department of Biology and Wildlife Disease, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackeho 1-3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic
Department of Avian Ecology, Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kvetna 8, 603 65 Brno, Czech Republic
Veterinary Teaching Hospital, School of Veterinary Science and Animal Production, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia
Aves Hummingbird flower mites Ascidae Proctolaelaps Rhinoseius Tropicoseius Trochilidae Costa Rica

Abstract

Eleven species of hummingbird flower mites of the genera Proctolaelaps Berlese, 1923, Tropicoseius Baker & Yunker, 1964 and Rhinoseius Baker & Yunker, 1964 were recorded from hummingbirds in Costa Rica. Three new species of the genus Proctolaelaps are described and figured, i.e. P. threnetes Dusbabek & Literak, sp. nov., P. naskreckii Dusbabek & Havlicek, sp. nov. and P. chalybura Dusbabek & Capek, sp. nov. A key for identification of females and males of the P. belemensis species group is included. Five species of the genus Tropicoseius and three species of the genus Rhinoseius are recorded, three of these species are recorded from Costa Rica for the first time.

References

  1. Baker, E.W. & Yunker, C.E. (1964) New blattisociid mites (Acarina: Mesostigmata) from neotropical flowers and hummingbirds' nares. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 57, 103–126.

    Berlese, A. (1923) Centuria sesta di Acari nuovi. Redia, 15, 237–262.

    Colwell, R.K. (1973) Competition and coexistence in a simple tropical community. American Naturalist, 107, 737–760.

    Colwell, R.K. (1995) Effect of nectar consumption by the hummingbird flower mite Proctolaelaps kirmsei on nectar availability in Hamelia patens. Biotropica, 27, 206–217.

    Colwell, R.K.& Naeem, S. (1999) Sexual sorting in hummingbird flower mites (Mesostigmata: Ascidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 92, 952–959.

    Donato, F & Kandler, M.M. (1994) Plan general de manejo Reserva Biologica Hitoy Cerere. Anexo 1: Sondeo Ecologico Rapido. SPN and ICT, Costa Rica, 53–57.

    Dusbabek, F., Literak, I., Capek, M. & Havlicek, M. (2006) Three species of the genus Pellonyssus (Acari: Macronyssidae) including a new species from Costa Rican birds. International Journal of Acarology, 32, 175–178.

    Dusbabek, F. & Literak, I. (2006) Lasioseius aquilarum n. sp. (Acari: Ascidae), a new mite species from the nares of Costa Rican hummingbirds. International Journal of Acarology, 32, 293–296

    Evans, G.O. (1992) Principles of Acarology. C.A.B. International, Wallingford, 563 pp.

    Fain, A. (1992) Notes on the flower mites of the genus Rhinoseius Baker and Yunker, 1964 (Acari: Ascidae), phoretic in the nares of hummingbirds with a key to known species. Bulletin de l' Institut Royal des Sciences Naturales de Belgique, Entomologie, 62, 117–136.

    Fain, A. & Hyland, K. E. (1980) New species of the genus Rhinoseius Baker and Yunker, 1964 (Mesostigmata: Ascidae) phoretic on Colombian hummingbirds. International Journal of Acarology, 6, 15–24.

    Fain, A., Hyland, K. E. & Aitken, T.H.G. (1977) Flower mites of the family Ascidae phoretic in nasal cavities of birds (Acarina: Mesostigmata). Acta Zoologica et Pathologica Antverpiensia, 69, 99–154.

    Fain, A.& Mariaux, J. (1991) Notes on two mesostigmatic mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) recorded from sunbirds (Nectariniidae) in the Ivory-Coast. Revue Suisse de Zoologie, 98, 319–324.

    Haase, A. & Pröhl, H. (2002) Female activity patterns and aggressiveness in the strawberry poison frog Dendrobates pumilio (Anura: Dendrobatidae). Amphibia-Reptilia, 23, 129–140.

    Hunter, P.E. (1972) New Rhinoseius species (Mesostigmata: Ascidae) from Costa Rican hummingbirds. Journal of the Georgia Entomological Society, 7, 26–35.

    Hyland, K.E., Fain, A. & Moorhouse, A.S. (1978) Ascidae associated with the nasal cavities of Mexican birds (Acarina: Mesostigmata). Journal of the New York Entomological Society, 86, 260–267.

    Kaufman, K. (1990) A Field Guide to Advanced Birding. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York, 299 pp.

    Micherdzinski, W & Lukoschus, F.S. (1980) Rhinoseius rafinskii, a new species from Ecuador and Venezuela (Acari, Gamasina, Ascidae). Zoologische Mededelingen, 55, 65–79.

    Lindquist, E.E. & Evans, G.O. (1965) Taxonomic concept 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, R.K. (1995) Systematics and Host Plant Affiliations of Hummingbird Flower Mites of the Genera Tropicoseius Baker & Yunker and Rhinoseius Baker & Yunker (Acari: Mesostigmata: Ascidae). Thomas Say Publications in Entomology, Entomological Society of America, Lanham, Maryland, 185 pp.

    National Geographic Society (2002) Field Guide to the Birds of North America. 4th ed. National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C, 480 pp.

    OConnor, B., Colwell, R.K. & Naeem, S. (1991) Flower mites of Trinidad II. The genus Proctolaelaps (Acari: Ascidae). Great Basin Naturalist, 51, 348–376.

    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 Colombia. Journal of Natural History, 25, 481–497.

    Ridgley, R.S. & Gwynne, J.A. (1989) A Guide to the Birds of Panama with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras. 2nd ed. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 534 pp.

    Ryke, A.J. (1964) Acarina associated with protea flowers in the Cape Province. Journal of the Entomological Society of South Africa, 26, 339–354.

    Savage, J.M. (2002) The amphibians and reptiles of Costa Rica. A herpetofauna between two continents, between two seas. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 934 pp.

    Sibley, D.A. (2000) National Audubon Society Sibley guide to birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 544 pp.

    Stiles, F.G. & Skutcha, A. (1989) A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Christopher Helm, London, 511 pp.

    Treat, A.E. & Niederman, L. (1967) Three species of Proctolaelaps (Acarina, Mesostigmata) from noctuid moths. American Museum Novitates, 2312, 1–12.

    Tschapka, M. & Cunningham, S.A. (2004) Flower mites of Calyptrogyne ghiesbreghtiana (Arecaceae): Evidence for dispersal using pollinating bats. Biotropica, 36, 377–381.

    Universidad de Costa Rica (2004) Barbilla National Park. http://www.ticotourism.com.

    Wiese, M.H.J. & Fain, A. (1993) New species of the genus Rhinoseius Baker & Yunker, 1964 (Acari: Mesostigmata: Ascidae) found in Colombia. Bulletin & Annales de la Societe Royal Belge d´Entomologie, 129, 69–101.