The Amazon biome harbors the richest avifauna in the world. However, in the Brazilian Amazon only a single previous study has systematically evaluated wild birds for ticks. During 2012, wild birds were captured in two areas of the Brazilian Amazon forest, one located in the State of Amazonas, and another in the State of Pará. Overall, 581 wild birds representing 118 species were captured, but only 18 individuals (3.1% prevalence) were infested by ticks, comprising immature stages of Amblyomma calcaratum Neumann, 1899, Amblyomma geayi Neumann, 1899, Amblyomma humerale Koch, 1844, and Amblyomma longirostre (Koch, 1844). The only previous study of birds in the Brazilian Amazon reported 40.2% tick prevalence. Such contrasting prevalence values may stem from seasonal differences or differences in forest disturbance at the two sites.

Information on distribution and hosts of hard ticks of northern Misiones Province in Argentina is presented in this study. Ticks were identified by morphological characters and by sequences of a 410 bp fragment of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. A total of 292 ticks collected from the environment and wild and domestic mammals were identified: Amblyomma coelebs, A. brasiliense, A. dubitatum, A. incisum, A. ovale, Haemaphysalis juxtakochi and Rhipicephalus microplus. The presence of A. coelebs was confirmed for Argentina and the first record of H. juxtakochi in Misiones was presented. Some of the species as A. incisum, A. ovale and R. microplus are ticks of medical and veterinary importance. Therefore, further studies on the vectorial role of these species in Misiones Province are necessary to determine their epidemiological relevance.

Forty-two larvae of Argas keiransi (Acari: Argasidae) were collected from the Chimango Caracara, Milvago chimango (Falconiformes: Falconidae), at three localities in La Pampa Province, Argentina. Ticks were determined by a combination of palpal segment IV as long as or longer than the other palpal segments, absence of a trumpet-shaped sensillum extending from the capsule of Haller´s organ into the lumen of the tarsus, length of dorsal plate between 180 and 240 μm, length of hypostome between 180 and 205 μm, dental formula 2/2 in the basal third, 2/2 or 3/3 apically, and length of posterolateral setae between 45 and 50 μm. Morphological determination was confirmed by analysis of sequences of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. The results of this work constitute the first Argentinean record of A. keiransi, which has previously been reported only from Chile.

We report parasitism by the ixodid ticks Amblyomma mixtum, Amblyomma oblongoguttatum and Amblyomma tapirellum on the lesser capybara or poncho, Hydrochoerus isthmius, in Panama. These data are integrated with earlier Panamanian records of Amblyomma auricularium and Rhipicephalus sanguineus s.l. from H. isthmiusand compared with known records of tick species parasitizing the capybara, Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, in South America. Our collections do not permit us to determine whether the poncho is a significant host for A. mixtum, A. oblongoguttatum or A. tapirellum; rather, our results should be viewed as contributing to the discussion of potential hosts of these tick species.

Three new species and seven new records of eriophyoid mite species from Saudi Arabia are described and illustrated. They are Mackiella phoenicis Keifer, 1939 rec. nov. on Phoenix dactylifera L. (Arecaceae), Cecidophyopsis rosmarinusis sp. nov. on Rosmarinus officinalis L. (Lamiaceae), Aceria cynodoniensis Sayed, 1946 rec. nov. on Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) L. (Aizoaceae), Aceria daturae (Soliman & Abou-Awad, 1977) rec. nov. on Datura stramonium L. (Solanaceae), Aceria fica (Cotté, 1920) rec. nov. on Ficus carica L. (Moraceae), Aceria nilotica (Abou-Awad & Nasr, 1983) on Pennisetum alopecuroides (L.) Spreng. (Poaceae), Epitrimerus saudiarabis sp. nov. on Phoenix dactylifera L. (Arecaceae), Abacarus cynodonsis Abou-Awad & Nasr, 1983 on Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) L. (Aizoaceae), Aculus portulacus sp. nov. on Portulaca oleraceaL. (Portulacaceae) and Aculus zaheri (Abou-Awad, 1979) on Solanum nigrum L. (Solanaceae). All new species are vagrants on the host plants. A checklist of eriophyoid mites from Saudi Arabia is provided.

A new species of the genus Thoracophoracarus K. Viets is described from South Korea. This genus was previously known only from the Afrotropical and Neotropical regions, and the record from South Korea means a considerable range extension of the genus.

Cassidopolipus physonota gen. nov., sp. nov. (Acari: Podapolipidae) is described from the tortoise beetle, Physonota alutacea (Boheman, 1854) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Cassidinae) collected in Mexico, Honduras and Costa Rica. Of the thirty-one genera of Podapolipidae, the new genus belongs to a group of sixteen genera with adult females having just four well-developed legs. Within this group, six genera also have males with a short, mid dorsal genital capsule. Keys to the six genera are provided.

Most raphignathoid mites are characteristic of the drier edaphic microhabitats such as litter, soil, bark and moss. A few are fresh-water aquatic to sub-aquatic: species of the family Homocaligidae; and some species of Caligohomus Habeeb, 1966, Cheylostigmaeus Willmann, 1951 and Eustigmaeus Berlese, 1910 of the family Stigmaeidae. Homocaligidae has occasionally been reported from Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South Africa. This rarely collected family has not been previously reported from Turkey, but now is known to be a part of the mite fauna of Turkey, with herein the re-description of Homocaligus crassipus Fan based on adults, protonymphs and deutonymphs found on hydrous grassy soil and moss wetland area, Ekşisu Marsh, eastern part of Turkey. The male of H. crassipus is newly discovered and described here. Also, an identification key to the known species of the genus Homocaligus is presented.

Two new species of oribatid mites of the family Galumnidae, Pergalumna minituberculata sp. nov. and Carinogalumna alineata sp. nov., are described from soil of secondary mixed broadleaved forest with bamboo in eastern Nepal. The genus Carinogalumna is recorded for the first time in the Oriental region. Pergalumna minituberculata sp. nov. is similar morphologically to Pergalumna longisetosa Balogh, 1960 and Pergalumna paralongisetosa Ermilov & Kalúz, 2012, however, it differs from both by the body size, length of bothridial and adanal setae, absence of porose areas Ad, and the presence of notogastral setae c, medial pore, postanal porose area, striate genital plates and striate bands in anogenital region. Carinogalumna alineata sp. nov. is similar morphologically to Carinogalumna montana Engelbrecht, 1973, however, it differs from the latter by the absence of a prodorsal keel, morphology of prodorsal setae and the presence of an anterior notogastral margin. An identification key to the known species of Carinogalumna is given.

Cannibalism is an important factor in biology and ecology of many species of insects and mites. The structure and dynamics of populations of predators used in biological control programs might be affected by cannibalism. The objective of the present study was to determine cannibalism by adult females of the generalist phytoseiids, Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor) and Typhlodromus bagdasarjani Wainstein & Arutunjan and the specialist predatory thrips, Scolothrips longicornis Priesner. The experiments were conducted under laboratory conditions at 25°C, 65% RH and a photoperiod of 16h light: 8h dark. The larval stages, prepupae and pupae of the thrips and the immature stages (eggs, larvae and protonymphs) of the phytoseiids were used as prey. For this purpose, two types of experiments were carried out. In the first experiment, cannibalism of N. californicus, T. bagdasarjani and S. longicornis on their immatures were studied in the absence of the two-spotted spider mite (TSSM), Tetranychus urticae Koch as an extraguild (EG) prey. The second experiment determined the cannibalism of each adult female of the predatory mite and predatory thrips in presence of EG prey. Both phytoseiid species had ability to consume their conspecific prey and the predatory thrips had ability to consume conspecific larvae. Each female of N. californicus and T. bagdasarjani consumed the eggs (0.09 and 0.06 egg/female/day, respectively), larvae (0.78 and 0.70 larva/female/day, respectively) and protonymphs (0.89 and 0.69 nymph/female/day, respectively). Also, S. longicornis consumed its first and second instar larvae (0.33 and 0.25 larva/female/day, respectively). When TSSM was presented as an extraguild prey, the intensity of cannibalism in N. californicus and T. bagdasarjani on their larvae 0.32 and 0.22 per day, respectively and on protonymphs 0.03 and 0.15 per day, respectively decreased and S. longicornis did not feed anymore on its own larval stages. Therefore, it is concluded that cannibalism is very limited in the three examined species and the lack of TSSM as the main prey can intensify this behavior.

Bifenthrin is a broad-spectrum insecticide and acaricide that is widely used in China. We evaluated the effects of sublethal concentrations (LC₁₀ and LC₂₅) of bifenthrin on the eggs and adult females of the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, in the laboratory at 26±1°C, 80% RH, and a 16 h: 8 h (L: D) photoperiod. The sublethal doses of bifenthrin decreased the intrinsic and finite rate of increase, net reproductive rate, survival rate, and reproductive value. The sublethal doses also increased the mean generation time, total pre-ovipositional period, and duration of the larval and nymphal stages. The intrinsic rate of increase dropped from 0.252/day in the control to 0.222 and 0.208/day in response to LC₁₀ and LC₂₅ treatments, respectively. Following LC₁₀ and LC₂₅ treatments, the net reproductive rate dropped from 60.65 offspring/individual in the control to 45.19 and 40.81, respectively. These laboratory results indicate that sublethal concentrations of bifenthrin may decrease the developmental rate of T. urticae, are unlikely to result in the resurgence of T. urtciae populations, and might therefore be useful in the integrated management of this pest.

Lepidoglyphus destructor (Schrank) is a prominent and world-wide pest of stored grain. Currently, genetic diversity of L. destructor is still little known due to the limited number of studies. The objective of this investigation was to assess genetic diversity and differentiation of four populations of L. destructor from four geographic locations in China using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) fingerprinting. A total of 58 DNA bands were tested, 47 of which were polymorphic and the percentage of polymorphic bands (PPB) was 81.03%. Nei's gene diversity (He) and Shannon's Information index (I) revealed that the genetic diversity was high. Further, the value of Gst was 0.5680, indicating a median level of genetic differentiation in these populations. At the same time, analysis of molecular variation (AMOVA) showed that 45.93% of variation can be identified within populations. The level of gene flow (Nm) was moderate. Cluster analysis suggested that genotypes isolated from the same locations displayed a higher genetic similarity than those from different ones, forming a specific clade according to their geographic locations. Nevertheless, there was no significant correlation between the genetic distance and geographic distance.

The citrus red mite, Panonychus citri (McGregor), is an economically important pest on citrus. To better understand the population structure of P. citri, we developed 15 novel polymorphic microsatellites derived from expressed sequence tags (EST). The new microsatellites were assessed in 32 female individuals sampled from Quanzhou (Fujian Province), China. The polymorphic information content (PIC) for each locus ranged from 0.305 to 0.726, with an average of 0.491. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 6, with an average of 3.8. The observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.094 to 0.438 and from 0.345 to 0.764, respectively. Significant linkage disequilibrium was detected for three pairs of loci (PC3 and PC9, PC3 and PC11, PC11 and PC13). Twelve of the 15 loci deviated significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE). The presence of null alleles, inbreeding and the Wahlund effect were considered potential sources of the deviations from HWE. The new polymorphic microsatellites provide a valuable resource for future population genetics studies and management of P. citri.

Tyrophagus curvipenis Fain & Fauvel, 1993 (Acari: Acaridae) has been reported from a very broad range of plant and animal hosts in various habitats in Australia, France, Portugal and New Zealand. However, except host/habitat records, there have been no reports of its life history and other aspects of biology. In this laboratory study conducted at 25°C, T. curvipenis were kept individually and fed three different diets. The time from egg to adult mite was recorded and size of resulting adult mites was measured. T. curvipenis completed development on dry yeast in 10 days, about half of time needed when fed rolled oats and 42% of time needed when fed wheat flour. The length and width of the prodorsal shield was used to determine adult size. Adult females fed yeast were 18% larger than those fed on oats and 25% larger than those fed on wheat flour. Adult males were 14% larger on yeast than on oats, and 27% larger on yeast than on wheat flour. Faster development and larger size at maturity on yeast are correlated with the higher protein content of yeast compared to that in oats and wheat. Males were smaller and developed faster than females on all three diets.