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A New Laelapine Mite (Acari: Mesostigmata: Laelapidae) Associated With The Spiny Rodent, Scolomys Melanops, In Amazonian Peru, Donald Gettinger, Scott Gardner

Scott L. Gardner Publications

Gigantolaelaps scolomys Gettinger and Gardner n. sp., an ectoparasitic mite (Acari: Laelapidae) associated with the rodent Scolomys melanops in Amazonian forests of Peru, is described and illustrated.

Mites of the genus Gigantolaelaps Fonseca are common ectoparasites associated exclusively with rodents of the sigmodontine tribe Oryzomyini (see Gettinger, 1987). They are often abundant in the dorsal pelage and are easily collected by brushing the host at capture. The laelapine populations sampled are female dominant; males and immatures are assumed to live within the nest of the host (Martins-Hatano et al., 2011). A new species was encountered in a small collection of …