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Hyperparasitism of mosquitoes by water mite larvae

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Abstract

Hyperparasitism of ectoparasitic water mite larvae on mosquitoes is still a neglected relationship and was investigated only in a few studies. We analysed 2313 female mosquitoes from six different sampling localities with regard to their degree of parasitism with water mite larvae. In total, we found 38 mosquito individuals parasitized by 93 water mite larvae, ranging from 1 to 12 larvae per mosquito. Water mite larvae detected are members of the two species Parathyas cf. barbigera (n = 92) and Arrenurus cf. globator (n = 1). Out of the analysed mosquitoes, individuals out of the species Aedes vexans, Anopheles claviger, Ochlerotatus communis, the Ochlerotatus cantans/annulipes group, Ochlerotatus cataphylla and Ochlerotatus sticticus were tested to be parasitized by water mite larvae. The highest prevalence was found within the species Oc. cataphylla (28.6 %) and Oc. cantans/annulipes (21.7 %). No water mite larvae were found, e.g. on individuals of Aedes cinereus, Coquillettidia richiardii, the Culex pipiens/torrentium group, Ochlerotatus caspius, Ochlerotatus dorsalis or Ochlerotatus punctor. All of the attachment sites were located between the neck and abdomen with the ventral thorax site being the most frequent one.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the ERA-Net BiodivERsA, with the national funders German Research Foundation (DFG KL 2087/6-1), Austrian Science Fund (FWF I-1437) and The French National Research Agency (ANR-13-EBID-0007-01), part of the 2013 BiodivERsA call for research proposals, by the research funding programme “LOEWE—Landes-Offensive zur Entwicklung Wissenschaftlich-ökonomischer Exzellenz” of Hesse’s Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts, and by the Senate Competition Committee grant (SAW-2014-SGN-3) of the Leibniz Association.

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  1. Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Goethe-University, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Antje Werblow, Dorian D. Dörge, Lisa K. Koch, Christian Melaun & Sven Klimpel

  2. Zoological Institute: Limnology, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (Kiel University), Olshausenstr. 40, 24098, Kiel, Germany

    Peter Martin

  3. Institute for Parasitology, Heinrich-Heine-University, Universitätsstr. 1, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Heinz Mehlhorn

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  1. Antje Werblow
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Correspondence to Antje Werblow.

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Werblow, A., Martin, P., Dörge, D.D. et al. Hyperparasitism of mosquitoes by water mite larvae. Parasitol Res 114, 2757–2765 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4482-3

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