Ectoparasitic Mites of the Genus Gigantolaelaps (Acari: Mesostigmata: Laelapidae) Associated with Small Mammals of the Genus Nephelomys (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae), Including Two New Species from Peru

Authors

Donald D. Gettinger, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Scott Lyell Gardner, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

7-4-2017

Document Type

Article

Citation

Acarologia (2017) 57(4): 755-763. DOI: 10.24349/acarologia/20174191. ZooBank: 1559C74D-E850-4FC7-86A6-352B16C752E1.

Comments

Copyright 2017, the authors. Open access, Creative Commons attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives license. Article also available at http://www1.montpellier.inra.fr/CBGP/acarologia/article.php?id=4191.

Abstract

An extensive survey of small mammals and ectoparasites along an altitudinal transect in the Manu Biodiversity Reserve in Peru found the sigmodontine rodent genus Nephelomys infested by mites of the genus Gigantolaelaps Fonseca, 1939. Two distinct species co-occurred exclusively in the pelage of Nephelomys keaysi, G. inca Fonseca and G. minima n. sp. Nephelomys levipes, which replaces N. keaysi at higher elevations, was infested exclusively with a single new species, G. nebulosa n. sp. In this paper, we formally describe these new mite species, and provide more information on the morphology of G. inca.