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Intraspecific variation of body size in a gamasid mite Laelaps clethrionomydis: environment, geography and host dependence

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Abstract

We investigated intraspecific variation in body size of an ectoparasitic gamasid mite, Laelaps clethrionomydis, across 12 localities in the Palearctic. We asked whether mites collected from the same host species in different localities or from different host species in the same locality vary in body size. Within host species, mites collected in different localities differed significantly in body size, tending to be larger in northern than in southern localities. In addition, mite body size correlated negatively with mean annual temperature in a locality. Mites collected from different hosts in the same locality differed significantly in body size when hosts belonged to different genera but did not differ when collected from congeneric hosts. We conclude that intraspecific variation in mite body size is caused by interplay of environmental and host-related factors.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Allan Degen for the helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. This study was partly supported by grants from the Russian Fund for Basic Research (project No. 15-44-04030_sibir_a to N.P.V.-K. and M.V.V.), the Russian Ministry for Education and Science (project No. 6.1957.2014/К to N.P.V.-K. and M.V.V.) and the Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 26/12 to B.R.K. and I.S.K.). This is publication no. 873 of the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Arthropod-Borne Viral Infections, Omsk Research Institute of Natural Foci Infections, Mira str. 7, 644080, Omsk, Russia

    Natalia P. Korallo-Vinarskaya

  2. Research Department, F.M. Dostoevsky Omsk State University, Andrianova str. 28, 644077, Omsk, Russia

    Maxim V. Vinarski

  3. Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Omsk State Pedagogical University, Tukhachevskogo emb. 14, 644099, Omsk, Russia

    Maxim V. Vinarski

  4. Wyler Department Dryland Agriculture, French Associates Inst. Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel

    Irina S. Khokhlova

  5. Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Inst. Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel

    Georgy I. Shenbrot & Boris R. Krasnov

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  1. Natalia P. Korallo-Vinarskaya
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Correspondence to Boris R. Krasnov.

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Korallo-Vinarskaya, N.P., Vinarski, M.V., Khokhlova, I.S. et al. Intraspecific variation of body size in a gamasid mite Laelaps clethrionomydis: environment, geography and host dependence. Parasitol Res 114, 3767–3774 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4606-9

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