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

Document Type

Article

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.