Macrocheles merdarius ( Berlese, 1889 )

Dwibadra, Dhian, Takaku, Gen, Ôhara, Masahiro & Ueda, Akira, 2014, Mites of the Family Macrochelidae (Acari: Gamasida) from Sungai Wain, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Species Diversity 19 (1), pp. 43-57 : 47-48

Macrocheles merdarius ( Berlese, 1889)

Holostaspis merdarius Berlese, 1889 , fasc. 52(1), fig. 103.

Macrocheles merdarius: Filipponi and Pegazzano, 1963: 83– 88 , figs V, VI, tav. XXIV; Takaku and Hartini 2001: 326– 327; Hartini and Takaku 2003a: 1265; Hartini et al. 2003: 309; Hartini et al. 2005: 204; Hartini and Takaku 2006: 32.

Material examined. Km 22: 4 females, Imperata cylindrica grassland, 23 December 2006, ex residue in vial; Km 24: 1 female, Acacia mangium plantation, 26 December 2006, ex residue in vial.

Diagnosis. Female. All dorsal setae simple. L. o. a. of sternal shield connected by transverse lines; punctations very faint. Genu IV with 6 setae.

Habitat. This species has been collected from the scarab beetle genera Aphodius , Catharsius , Copris , Coptodactyla , Euoniticellus , Lepanus , Liatongus, Notopedana , Onthophagus , Pentodon, Coptodactyhanaeus, and Synapsidis , the geotropid beetle genus Geotrupes , the histerid beetle genus Pachylister , and from beetles of other families including Lucanidae , Silphidae , and Trogidae . It has also been recorded from rodents, soil, leaf litter, cow dung, compost, manure, etc.

Distribution. Cosmopolitan. In Indonesia, this species is known from Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali, Lombok, Flores, Sumbawa, Sumba, and West Papua.