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19 January 2023 Parasitic mites of the genus Forania (Acari, Erythraeidae) on ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in NE Spain: When taxonomy meets citizen science
Jaime Mayoral, Adrià Miralles-Núñez, Javier Sánchez, Xavier Espadaler
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Abstract

Mites are some of the most common guests of social insects, whether this relation is parasitic or not. There are a handful of larval species in Parasitengona worldwide that stablished a parasitic association with ants. The only two species in the genus Forania (Acari, Erythraeidae), F. mentonensis from France and F. sendrai from south Spain, are two of them. There are three captures reported for these two species in 92 years, all of them associated with ants. In this study, mite specimens captured from two locations in the surroundings of Barcelona and belonging to Forania are studied. This is the first report of F. mentonensis since 1930, and it is a new record for the Spanish fauna. Furthermore, a comprehensive search in the on-line citizen science resource Biodiversidad Virtual revealed at least twelve possible new citations of Forania sp. across the East Mediterranean side of Spain. These new data suggest a wider distribution and specific temporal location of these species than previously thought.

© Systematic & Applied Acarology Society
Jaime Mayoral, Adrià Miralles-Núñez, Javier Sánchez, and Xavier Espadaler "Parasitic mites of the genus Forania (Acari, Erythraeidae) on ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in NE Spain: When taxonomy meets citizen science," Systematic and Applied Acarology 28(1), 123-130, (19 January 2023). https://doi.org/10.11158/saa.28.1.11
Received: 24 May 2022; Accepted: 27 October 2022; Published: 19 January 2023
KEYWORDS
Acari
France
larvae
Plagiolepis
social insects
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