Pyemotes herfsi (Acari: Pyemotidae), a Mite New to North America as the Cause of Bite Outbreaks

Authors

Alberto B. Broce, Kansas State UniversityFollow
Ludek Zurek, Kansas State UniversityFollow
James A. Kalisch, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Robert Brown, Kansas State University
David L. Keith, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
David Gordon, Pittsburg State University
Janis Goedeke, Crawford County Health Department, Pittsburg, Kansas
Cal Welbourn, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer ServicesFollow
John Moser, USDA, Forest Service
Ronald Ochoa, USDA, ARS Systematic Entomology LaboratoryFollow
Eduardo Azziz-Baumgartner, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GeorgiaFollow
Fuyuen Yip, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GeorgiaFollow
Jacob Weber, Kansas Cooperative Extension Service, Columbus, KansasFollow

Date of this Version

5-2006

Citation

Journal of Medical Entomology 43:3 (May 2006), pp. 610-613.

doi: 10.1093/jmedent/43.3.610

Comments

U.S. Government Work

Abstract

High incidences of red, itching, and painful welts on people in the midwestern United States led to the discovery of a European species of mite, Pyemotes herfsi (Oudemans) (Acari: Pyemotidae), preying on gall-making midge larvae on oak leaves. The mites' great reproductive potential, small size, and high capacity for dispersal by wind make them difficult to control or avoid.