Abstract
Burying beetles (Silphidae, Nicrophorus) are hosts to a broad diversity of mites (Acari), including several species of Macrocheles Latreille, 1829 (Mesostigmata, Macrochelidae). The macrochelid fauna associated with silphids primarily in North America was surveyed; in total, 1659 macrochelids representing seven species were collected from 112 Nicrophorus beetles representing nine host species. Three new species of Macrocheles were discovered during the survey and described as Macrocheles willowae sp. n., M. pratum sp. n., and M. kaiju sp. n. The barcode region of cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) was amplified from the three new described species, as well as M. nataliae and M. praedafimetorum, and analysed in a small phylogeny.
Highlights
Carrion-feeding beetles (Silphidae) are associated with a diverse assemblage of mites, nematodes, and fungi
Mites were removed from the extraction buffer, vouchers were-slide mounted, and genomic DNA was purified following the DNeasy Tissue kit protocol
Bayesian analysis was performed in MrBayes using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method, two independent runs, with nucmodel = 4by4, Nst = 6, rates = invgamma, samplefreq = 1000, four chains = one cold and three heated
Summary
Carrion-feeding beetles (Silphidae) are associated with a diverse assemblage of mites, nematodes, and fungi. Nicrophorus beetles are associated with a broad diversity of mites that can occur at high prevalences and abundances, with at least 14 species of mites representing four families collected off 95% of beetles in a given population (Wilson and Knollenberg 1987). Macrocheles associated with silphids attach with their chelicerae to beetles dispersing to and from carcasses, and they generally feed on nematodes, insect eggs and larvae, and other invertebrates on carrion (Wilson and Knollenberg 1987, Schwarz et al 1998). A recent survey of tortoise mites (Uropodina, Uroobovella) on Nicrophorus beetles (Knee et al 2012) uncovered three new species of Macrocheles associated with burying beetles. I propose and describe Macrocheles willowae sp. n., M. pratum sp. n., and M. kaiju sp. n., include a small phylogeny based on the barcode region of COI, and describe the diversity, abundance and host range of Macrocheles species found on Nicrophorus throughout this survey
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