Sheltered life beneath elytra: three new species of Eutarsopolipus (Acari, Heterostigmatina, Podapolipidae) parasitizing Australian ground beetles

Abstract

In this study, we conducted a summer sampling of carabid beetles in eastern Australia to identify their associated parasitic mites. Here, we describe three new species of the genus Eutarsopolipus from under the elytra (forewings) of three native carabid species (Coleoptera: Carabidae): Eutarsopolipus paryavae n. sp. (pterostichi group) from Geoscaptus laevissimus Chaudoir; Eutarsopolipus pulcher n. sp. (leytei group) from Gnathaphanus pulcher (Dejean); and Eutarsopolipus chlaenii n. sp. (myzus group) from Chlaenius flaviguttatus Macleay. We further provide an identification key of the world species of pterostichi and leytei species groups as well as closely related species of the myzus group possessing similar characters including short cheliceral stylets. The significant diversity of Eutarsopolipus recovered here suggests that the current knowledge about Australian podapolipid mites (specially Eutarsopolipus) is still in its infancy and deserves further study.

Keywords

• acari
• biodiversity
• trombidiformes
• carabidae
• symbiosis
• systematics