Eustigmaeus johnstoni Zhang and Gerson, 1995

Pekağirbaş, Metin, Karakuş, Mehmet & Yilmaz, Ayda, 2023, Two parasitic mite species on Phlebotominae sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) from Türkiye: Biskratrombium persicum (Microtrombidiidae) and Eustigmaeus johnstoni (Stigmaeidae), Acarological Studies 5 (1), pp. 11-16 : 12-13

Eustigmaeus johnstoni Zhang and Gerson, 1995

Sand flies collected during field studies in Adana were dissected for species identification. During the dissection, mite specimens were detected on some sand flies and were examined. Accordingly, three adult females of Eustigmaeus johnstoni ( Fig. 1A ) were identified on the thorax of the adult female Phlebotomus tobbi during the field study in Adana. The scars caused by E. johnstoni on the lateral side of the abdominal tergites belongs to P. tobbi individual were viewed under a stereo microscope ( Fig. 1B ).

The morphological features of the specimens from Türkiye are completely similar to those of the known specimens of E. johnstoni . Since the description of the species is well and it has been previously recorded and described in Türkiye, the description has not been repeated here.

Host information

Phlebotomus papatasi , S. magna , S. dreyfussi , S. africana , P. longicuspis , P. bergeroti , P. sergenti , Sergentomyia clydei , S. sintoni ( Zhang and Gerson, 1995; Fan et al., 2016), and newly recorded host P. tobbi (present study).

Distribution

Cyprus, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Tunisia, Türkiye and Yemen ( Zhang and Gerson, 1995; Shehata and Baker, 1996; Özbel et al., 1999; Badakhshan et al., 2013; Pekağırbaş et al., 2017; Doğan, 2019; Majidi et al., 2019).

Figures

Figure 1. A. Dorsal view of Eustigmaeus johnstoni (female), 400x, B. Scars on the lateral sides of the abdominal sternites belongs to a Phlebotomus tobbi individual, 40x.