Abstract
ABSTRACTPhoresy is a type of commensalism exploited by many species of mites as a means of transportation. The present study reports the phoretic association of astigmatid and mesostigmatid mites with adults of the banana pseudostem weevil, Odoiporus longicollis Oliver, a major pest of banana. Weevil specimens were collected from eight localities in Kerala, South India, between June 2017 to January 2018. 91.8% of beetles carried mites: phoretic deutonymphs (hypopi) of an unknown species of Histiostoma (Astigmata: Histiostomatidae) and adults of Macrocheles muscaedomesticae (Scopoli) (Mesostigmata: Macrochelidae). When their hosts died, Histiostoma sp. often fed upon the cadavers of their hosts, a relationship referred here as facultative necromeny. M. muscaedomesticae showed preference to the ventral surface of the host weevil while Histiostoma sp. preferred the sternal groove and subelytral surface.
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