Postembryonic development of Trichouropoda ovalis (C. L. Koch, 1839) (Parasitiformes: Mesostigmata: Trematuridae) with notes on factors influencing the ontogeny in Uropodina

Abstract

ABSTRACTTrichouropoda (= Oodinychus) ovalis (C. L. Koch, 1839) was studied using video recording of living individuals reared on yeast in the laboratory at 20–21°C. We report the duration of juvenile stages and intra-stage changes in body length and width in juveniles and male and female adults. The duration of larva was the shortest and duration of the deutonymph was the longest. Duration of female deutonymphs was significantly longer than in males. All juveniles increased their size significantly. The change from the final size of earlier instar to the initial size of the next instar was in most cases statistically significant. During the first 10 days of life, only females decreased significantly on average in width while decrease in width in males and length in both sexes was insignificant. The equally aged larvae of both ontogenies were not significantly different in size. Female protonymphs were significantly longer just prior to moult when compared with equally aged protonymphs of male ontogeny. Female deutonymphs were significantly longer and wider when compared with equally aged deutonymphs of male ontogeny. Newly emerged females were significantly longer and wider than males, while after 10 days of life, their body size was not significantly different.