During a first faunistic survey on the eriophyoid mites of Meshginshahr rangelands in Ardabil province, Iran, two new Aceria species of eriophyid mites were found, and they are described and illustrated. They are: Aceria ayvatliorum Lotfollahi et Hemmatzadeh sp. nov. from Rhaponticum repens (L.) Hidalgo (Asteraceae), and Aceria beygdiliorum Lotfollahi et Hemmatzadeh sp. nov. from Astragalus compactus Lam. (Fabaceae). The first aforementioned new species is the third eriophyoid associated with R. repens. And the second new species is the fourth Aceria species found on Astragalus species. Both new species were vagrants, and no plant deformations were observed. Due to the presence of numerous endemic Astragalus species in Iran, an intensive and cohesive survey of eriophyoid mites of Astragalus is strongly suggested.

The morphological ontogeny of Platynothrus troendelagicus A. et S. Seniczak sp. nov. is described and illustrated. This species was found in two Atlantic raised bogs in Trøndelag, Norway, and based on comparison of cytochrome oxidase I (COI) nucleotide sequences, it also occurs in Ireland and Canada. It is the most similar to P. punctatus (L. Koch, 1879) as adult, but differs from it mainly by having more genital setae, longer seta f₂, alveolar seta exp and only one pair of hypostomal setae m. In all juveniles of P. troendelagicus, the bothridial seta and exobothridial seta exa are short, and exp is alveolar. In the larva, seta f₁ is setiform, but in the nymphs it is alveolar. Most prodorsal and gastronotal setae are short and smooth, except for longer and barbed f₂ and h₁ in the larva, and longer and finely barbed f₂, and h- and p-series in the nymphs. In all instars, one pair of hypostomal setae m is present, and palp femur has one seta. In the ontogeny of this species, many l setae appear on trochanter III and femora I–III, and l and v setae on tarsi, and the number of setae on femora of deutonymph to adult is diagnostic. Both species differ also by COI nucleotide sequence.

In this study, the investigation on oribatid fauna of bird nests is carried out for the first time in China. All oribatid mite material (Acari, Oribatida) were collected from artificial bird nests on the campus of the Nanchang Hangkong University. A list of identified taxa, including seven species and one subspecies from seven genera and seven families, is presented. Of these, one species, Nanhermannia himalayensis Chakrabarti & Raychaudhuri, 1978, is recorded in China for the first time. A new species of the genus Plonaphacarus is described, namely P. nanchangensis sp. nov., which is distinguished from all species of the genus by the presence of four dorsal cristae and short lateral carinae on prodorsum, interlamellar and c₁, c₂, c₃ setae robust and obtuse distally, and setae d on femora I bifurcate. In addition, a key to all known species of Plonaphacarus from China is provided.

A new species of Galumna (Oribatida, Galumnidae) is described from Malawian forest litter. Galumna (Galumna) ryabinini sp. nov. differs from the most similar species Galumna (Galumna) duplex by the morphology of the bothridial seta, the presence of a median pore, and the localization of the aggenital seta and notogastral lyrifissure im. An identification key to the known species/subspecies of the genus from the Afrotropical region is presented.

Fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a destructive, migratory pest that seriously damages corn, sorghum, and other crops. The “insect killer” Pyemotes zhonghuajia (Trombidiformes: Pyemotidae) is an ectoparasitic mite of agricultural and forestry pests in China. To explore the biological control efficiency of P. zhonghuajia on S. frugiperda, we evaluated the parasitic selectivity of P. zhonghuajia on S. frugiperda of different life stages, and distribution of P. zhonghuajia on different body parts of S. frugiperda larvae and pupae, food intake of S. frugiperda larvae affected by P. zhonghuajia density, and field population dynamics of S. frugiperda in relation to the releasing population density of P. zhonghuajia. We found that P. zhonghuajia preferred 4th- to sixth-instar larvae and pupae of S. frugiperda for parasitism, and the ventral part of abdominal segments of fourth-instar larvae and the ventral part of pupal thorax for feeding. Freezing of S. frugiperda 4th instar larvae and pupae had little effect on the distribution of P. zhonghuajia on the surface of these two host stages. The parasitism of P. zhonghuajia regardless of mite population size (i.e., 5, 10, or 20 mites) could significantly decrease the cumulative food intake of fifth-instar larvae of S. frugiperda. Releasing two and three boxes (50,000 mites/box) of P. zhonghuajia significantly suppressed the field population of S. frugiperda on sorghum plants/25 m² within 7 days. Our results show that P. zhonghuajia may be a potential biological control agent and can be used for biological control of S. frugiperda in the field.

Hirstithrombium noemiae Feider, 1955, representing one of the eight genera currently assigned to Johnstonianinae, is redescribed based on field-collected adults, deutonymphs and larvae, and also larvae obtained at the laboratory from field-born females. The species is associated with hygric habitats located at higher altitudes. A successful rearing allowed the first matching of heteromorphic instars within the genus known hitherto exclusively from active postlarval forms. A comparison of genera of Johnstonianinae, including species known from larvae and/or active postlarval forms is provided, species presently assigned to subfamily are listed and the key characters used in species diagnosing are discussed. A female of Hirstithrombium noemiae Feider, 1955 collected in Turkey is designated as neotype.

Temperature can influence the developmental rate and reproductive potential of herbivorous insects and mites. Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot is an effective phytoseiid predator with a significant ability to repress pest populations. To better understand the effect of temperature on the performance of A. swirskii, we studied temperature-dependent population growth and reproductive potential of the predatory mite under six constant temperatures (20, 22, 25, 27, 30, and 32°C), providing 75 ± 5% RH and a photoperiod of 16 L: 8 D h. The average fecundity was 12.85, 18.24, 22.2, 27.24, 28.6, and 52.57 eggs/female at 20–32°C, respectively. The highest gross reproductive rate (GRR = 26.08 eggs/individual), net reproductive rate (R₀ = 22.51 eggs/individual), and intrinsic rate of increase (r = 0.174 day^–1) were recorded at 27°C. The finite rate of increase (λ) and mean generation time (T) of A. swirskii were profoundly affected by temperature and varied from 1.101 to 1.190 day^–1 and 10.85 to 19.09 days, respectively. Data obtained during this study indicated that 27°C is the best temperature for rearing this predatory mite. This study improves our findings of the temperature range to optimize the mass rearing of A. swirskii as an effective predatory mite.

In this paper, three new species of Nothopodinae mites from China are described and illustrated. They are Disella miliusae sp. nov. collected on Miliusa sinensis Finet & Gagnep. (Annonaceae), Disella dendrocalama sp. nov. collected on Dendrocalamus yunnanicus Hsueh & D.Z.Li (Poaceae), and Colopodacus machili sp. nov. collected on Machilus nanmu (Oliv.) Hemsl. (Lauraceae). All the species are vagrants on lower leaf surface and causing no apparent damage to their host plants.

This study aimed to evaluate how the method of body weight estimation of a herd (average vs individual) for drug dosing may affect the pharmacokinetics and therapeutic efficacy of ivermectin 3.15% against Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus. The trial was performed in two populations of R. (B.) microplus with different levels of susceptibility to ivermectin: San Martín (SM) (incipient resistance) and Colonia Benítez (CB) (susceptible). Twenty-one (SM) and forty-two (CB) 12-month-old Braford heifers, naturally infested with R. (B.) microplus, were individually weighed and divided into three groups (G). G1 and G2 were treated with a dose of ivermectin 3.15% (IVOMEC GOLD^®) at a dose rate of 630 µg/kg of body weight (1 mL/50 kg). G1 received a uniform dose of ivermectin calculated according to the average of the individual body weights. G2 received a dose of ivermectin calculated according to the exact body weight of each animal. G3 were the control group. Ivermectin concentrations were measured from blood samples from day 1 to day 21 post-treatment. The efficacy of the treatment was evaluated by counting female ticks. In both populations the differences in the doses of ivermectin administered did not affect the pharmacokinetics and therapeutic efficacy of the drug. Nevertheless, it is necessary to avoid the sub-dosage of cattle to reduce the selection pressure for resistance on the tick populations.

Four new species, Abrolophus quadrapexicis Xu & Jin sp. nov., Grandjeanella dianensis Xu & Jin sp. nov., Leptus (Leptus) trisolenidionus Xu & Jin sp. nov. and Hirstiosoma tibetensis Xu & Jin sp. nov. are described and illustrated based on larvae. The species Hirstiosoma sadafae (Amin, Khanjani & Nadri) comb. nov. is transferred from the genus Sphaerotarsus to Hirstiosoma based on gnathosoma with two pairs barbed hypostomalae (as and bs), as and bs almost equal in length. H. tibetensis sp. nov. and G. dianensis sp. nov. are from the Tibetan Plateau (Qinghai-Tibet Plateau), a unique geographical unit of the highest altitude in the world. The described H. tibetensis sp. nov. from the Tibetan Plateau represents a newly recorded subfamily from China, namely Hirstiosomatinae (Smarididae) with the genus Hirstiosoma. The genus Grandjeanella including six species distributed in Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia (Sulawesi), is new to China and the Eurasian continent as G. dianensis sp. nov. found in the southern Tibetan Plateau (Gaoligongshan National Natural Reserve). In China Abrolophus has been known from the Oriental realm, A. quadrapexicis sp. nov. makes it cover both the Palaearctic and Oriental realm of China. L. (L.) trisolenidionus sp. nov. belongs to the phalangii species group and torresianus species subgroup, which contains three species previously known in Oceania (Australia) and South America (French Guiana) and here is the first report in Asia (China).

Scrub typhus (tsutsugamushi disease) is caused by the causative agent, Orientia tsutsugamushi, and it is a widespread zoonosis and vector-borne disease. Chigger mites (trombiculid mites) are the exclusive vectors of this disease. To date, more than 500 species of chigger mites have been documented in China, and six of them have been proved to be the main effective vector species of scrub typhus: Leptotrombidium deliense, L. scutellare, L. rubellum, L. sialkotense, L. wenense and L. insulare. The present paper reviewed the research history and progress of the six vector chigger species in China, which covered their history of nomenclature, vector roles, morphological identification, life cycle, distribution, host selection and seasonal fluctuation, etc.