Mesostigmata 97 



Genera: 



L Rad (New name for Banksia Radford, 1942. Parasitol, 34:299. 

 Not Banksia Voigts and Oudemans, 1905.) 

 Type. Laelaps longiseta Banks, 1909 



2. Ligilaelaps Radford, 1 942 



Type. Eulaelaps ewingi Pearse, 1930 



3. Mungosicola Radford, 1942 



Type. Mungosicola ugandae Radford, 1942 



Discussion: Laelaptid mites are world-wide in distribution. They are 

 usually parasitic. They parasitize invertebrates as well as vertebrates 

 and are the most common ectoparasites of mammals. Their life his- 

 tories vary in that larval and nymphal stages can be reduced. No lae- 

 laptids have yet been implicated in the transmission of diseases from 

 animal to man, but there are so many species and their opportunities 

 for acting as vectors are so numerous that they will probably be in- 

 criminated when they are investigated. 



Echinolaelaps echidninus (Berlese) transmits Hepatozoan muris 

 (Balfour) from rat to rat. This protozoan uses the mites as a defini- 

 tive host. It gets into the rat (many species of the genus Rattus serve 

 as hosts) when infected mites are ingested. Haemolaelaps arcuatus 

 (Koch) transmits Hepatozoan criceti (Danilewsky), a similar proto- 

 zoan, to the hamster {Cricetus jrumentarius NoUer). 



As already mentioned, the taxonomy of the laelaptids is extremely 

 difficult because of the large number of species; included and the lack 

 of careful study. The following references will serve as an introduction 

 to the large mass of literature. 



References: 



Berlese, A. 1904. Acari mirmecofili Redia 1:300-474 + Pis. VII-XX. 



Ewing, H. E. 1925. New parasitic mites of the genus Laelaps. Proc. Ent. 

 Soc. Wash. 27:1-7. 



Fonseca, F. da. 1939. Notas de acareologia XXV. Os Laelaptidae gigantes, 

 parasitas de roedores sul-americanos; genero e especies novas (Acari) . 

 Mem. Inst. Butantan. 12:7-101. 



Radford, C. D. 1943. Genera and species of parasitic mites (Acarina). 

 Parasitol. 35:58-81. 



Vitzthum, H. G. 1930. Milben als Pesttrager Zool. Jahrb. Syst. 60:381-428. 



Womersley, H. 1937. Studies on Australian Acarina. Laelaptidae. Para- 

 sitol. 29:530-538. 



