Published in

The Royal Society, Biology Letters, 9(10), p. 20140531, 2014

DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2014.0531

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

An ant-associated mesostigmatid mite in Baltic amber

Journal article published in 2014 by Jason A. Dunlop ORCID, Jason E. Dunlop, Jeno Kontschad, Jenő Kontschán, David E. Walter, Vincent Perrichot ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Upload
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Upload
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Policy details
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Fossil mesostigmatid mites (Acari: Parasitiformes: Mesostigmata) are extremely rare, and specimens from only nine families, including four named species, have been described so far. A new record of Myrmozercon sp. described here from Eocene ( ca 44–49 Myr) Baltic amber represents the first—and so far only—fossil example of the derived, extant family Laelapidae. Significantly, modern species of this genus are habitually myrmecophilous and the fossil mite described here is preserved attached to the head of the dolichoderine ant Ctenobethylus goepperti (Mayr, 1868). It thus offers the oldest unequivocal evidence for an ecological association between mesostigmatid mites and social insects in the order Hymenoptera.