DEVELOPMENT AND BIONOMICS OF CHRYSOMELOBIA LABIDOMERAE (ACARI: TARSONEMINA; PODAPOLIPIDAE), A PARASITE OF THE MILKWEED LEAF BEETLE (COLEOPTERA: CHRYSOMELIDAE)

Adult females of Chrysomelobia labidomerae Eickwort lay eggs on the upper surfaces of the hind wings of Labidomera clivicollis (Kirby). The eggs hatch in approximately 7 days and male and female larvae feed at the base of the wings and in the meso–metathoracic crevice and swell to about twice their original length. For about the second half of the approximately 7-day larval stadium, the larvae are inactive (pharate adults) and are usually cemented to the undersurfaces of the elytra. Inactive female larvae are accompanied by adult males that apparently copulate with the newly emerged adult females. The pharate adult is enclosed in a cuticular sac that may represent a calyptostatic nymphal instar. Adult females feed on the beetle’s abdominal terga and sometimes also occur on its venter where they do not feed. Females disperse from host to host when the beetles copulate. The species is arrhenotokous. Mites overwinter on the diapausing adult beetles and do not infest the immature stages of their host. Even at high population levels, the mites do not noticeably affect the longevity or fecundity of their hosts.

A NEW SPECIES OF CHRYSOMELOBIA (ACARI: TARSONEMINA; PODAPOLIPIDAE) FROM NORTH AMERICA AND THE TAXONOMIC POSITION OF THE GENUS

The larva, adult female, and adult male of Chrysomelobia labidomerae n. sp. are described. The adult female is compared with that of the only other described species in the genus, C. mahunkai from Europe. Chrysomelobia labidomerae is a parasite of adult milkweed leaf beetles, Labidomera clivicollis (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), in North America. Morphological similarities of all stages of Chrysomelobia with those of the generalized podapolipid Dorsipes support the retention of Chrysomelobia in the Podapolipidae as a most primitive genus in that family and the only one with 4 pairs of legs in the adult female.