Laelaps (mite) explained

Laelaps is a genus of common parasitic mites in the family Laelapidae. Species, with their hosts, include:

• Laelaps acuminata – Oecomys^[1]
• Laelaps agilis – Rattus^[2]
• Laelaps alaskensis – Blarina, Clethrionomys, Craseomys, Dicrostonyx, Lemmiscus, Lemmus, Microtus, Mustela, Myotis, Napaeozapus, Ochrotomys, Ondatra, Onychomys, Parascalops, Peromyscus, Phenacomys, Poliocitellus, Sorex, Synaptomys, Thomomys^[3]
• Laelaps boultoni – Neacomys, Sigmodon, Oligoryzomys, Oecomys, Heteromys
• Laelaps castroi – Oligoryzomys^[1]
• Laelaps clethrionomydis – Clethrionomys, Craseomys,^[2] Microtus,^[4]
• Laelaps conula – Rhipidomys
• Laelaps crinigera – Oryzomyini
• Laelaps dearmasi – Zygodontomys
• Laelaps differens^[1]
• Laelaps echidnina – Rattus,^[5] Didelphis, Sigmodon,^[4] Mus, Peromyscus, Sylvilagus^[2]
• Laelaps evansi – Neofiber^[4]
• Laelaps exceptionalis – "wild rat"^[5]
• Laelaps flexa – Microryzomys^[1]
• (Berlese, 1918)^[6] – Lemniscomys
• Laelaps incilis – Microtus, Neotamias, Peromyscus^[2]
• Laelaps kochi – Blarina, Clethrionomys, Corynorhinus, Craseomys, Dicrostonyx, Dipodomys, Glaucomys, Microtus, Mustela, Napaeozapus, Neotamias, Neovison, Neurotrichus, Ondatra, Peromyscus, Phenacomys, Sigmodon, Sorex, Synaptomys, Tamias, Zapus^[3]
• Laelaps lavieri – Mus^[7]
• Laelaps lemmi – Lemmus^[2]
• Laelaps liberiensis – Mastomys
• Laelaps manguinhosi – Holochilus, Nectomys, Neusticomys, and various other mammals^[5]
• Laelaps mazzai – Calomys, Oligoryzomys
• Laelaps multispinosa – Castor, Didelphis, Microtus, Mustela, Neovison, Ondatra, Peromyscus, Procyon^[8]
• Laelaps muricola – Mastomys
• Laelaps muris – Microtus, Ondatra^[2]
• Laelaps navasi – Oryzomyini
• Laelaps nuttalli – Mus, Ochrotomys, Peromyscus,^[2] Rattus,^[5] Sciurus^[9]
• Laelaps ovata – Nephelomys^[5]
• Laelaps paulistanensis – Rhipidomys, Oryzomyini^[1]
• Laelaps pilifer – Oryzomyini^[1]
• Laelaps spicata – Oryzomyini
• Laelaps stupkai – Synaptomys^[9]
• Laelaps surcomata – Rhipidomys^[10]
• Laelaps thori^[5]

Unnamed or unidentified species have been reported on Gerbilliscus robustus and Acomys wilsoni in Tanzania^[11] and on the marsh rice rat (Oryzomys palustris) in Florida and Georgia.^[12]

Synonym of Dryptosaurus

In 1866, an incomplete theropod dinosaur skeleton (ANSP 9995) was found in New Jersey by workers in a quarry belonging to the upper part of the New Egypt Formation.^[13] Paleontologist E.D. Cope described the remains, naming the creature "Laelaps" ("storm wind", after the dog in Greek mythology that never failed to catch what it was hunting).^[14] "Laelaps" became one of the first dinosaurs described from North America (following Hadrosaurus, Aublysodon and Trachodon). Subsequently, it was discovered that the name "Laelaps" had already been given to a genus of mite, and Cope's lifelong rival O.C. Marsh changed the name in 1877 to Dryptosaurus.

See also

• List of parasites of the marsh rice rat

Literature cited

• Furman, D.P. (1972). "Laelapid mites (Laelapidae: Laelapinae) from Venezuela". Brigham Young University Science Bulletin 17(3):1–58.
• Matthee . Sonja . Horak . Ivan G. . Beaucournu . Jean-Claude . Durden . Lance A. . Ueckermann . Eddie A. . McGeoch . Melodie A. . Epifaunistic arthropod parasites of the four-striped mouse, Rhabdomys pumilio, in the Western Cape Province, South Africa . Journal of Parasitology . February 2007 . 93 . 1 . 47–59 . 10.1645/GE-819R2.1. 17436941 .
• 2422133 . Host Relationships and Seasonal Abundance of Some Southwest Georgia Southwest Georgia Ectoparasites . Morlan . Harvey B. . The American Midland Naturalist . 1952 . 48 . 1 . 74–93 . 10.2307/2422133 .
• Nazarizadeh . Masoud . Martinů . Jana . Nováková . Milena . Stanko . Michal . Štefka . Jan . Phylogeography of the parasitic mite Laelaps agilis in Western Palearctic shows lineages lacking host specificity but possessing different demographic histories . BMC Zoology . December 2022 . 7 . 1 . 15 . 10.1186/s40850-022-00115-y . 10127304 . 37170127 . free . The main lineages of L. muricola and L. giganteus diverged from L. agilis and L. clethrionomydis....
• Stanley, W.T., Rogers, M.A., Senzota, R.B.M., Mturi, F.A., Kihaule, P.M., Moehlman, P.D. and O'Connor, B.M. (2007). "Surveys of small mammals in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania". Journal of East African Natural History 96(1):47–71.
• Strandtman . R. W. . Mitchell . Carl J. . The Laelaptine Mites of the Echinolaelaps Complex from the Southwest Pacific Area . Pacific Insects . 15 October 1963 . 5 . 3 . 541–576 .
• 2424511 . Whitaker . John O. . Wilson . Nixon . Host and Distribution Lists of Mites (Acari), Parasitic and Phoretic, in the Hair of Wild Mammals of North America, North of Mexico . The American Midland Naturalist . 1974 . 91 . 1 . 1–67 . 10.2307/2424511 .
• Whitaker, J.O., Walters, B.L., Castor, L.K., Ritzi, C.M. and Wilson, N. (2007). "Host and distribution lists of mites (Acari), parasitic and phoretic, in the hair or on the skin of North American wild mammals north of Mexico: records since 1974". Faculty Publications from the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln 1:1–173.
• 3273467 . Observations on Ectoparasites of Some Small Mammals in Everglades National Park and Hillsborough County, Florida . Worth . C. Brooke . The Journal of Parasitology . 1950 . 36 . 4 . 326–335 . 10.2307/3273467 . 15437232 .
• Zumpt . F. . Till . W. M. . Notes on the classification and synonymy of gamasid mites parasitic on vertebrates (Acarina: Mesostigmata) . Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa . November 1958 . 21 . 2 . 10520/AJA00128789_2505 .

Notes and References

1. Furman, 1972, p. 20
2. Whitaker and Wilson, 1974, p. 10
3. Whitaker and Wilson, 1974, p. 10; Whitaker et al., 2007, p. 20
4. Whitaker et al., 2007, p. 20
5. Furman, 1972, p. 19
6. For use of specific binomen L. giganteus in scientific literature, see:
7. Stanley et al., 2007, p. 71
8. Whitaker and Wilson, 1974, p. 10; Whitaker et al., 2007, p. 21
9. Whitaker et al., 2007, p. 21
10. Furman, 1972, p. 18
11. Stanley et al., 2007, p. 70
12. Worth, 1950, p. 330; Morlan, 1952, table 2
13. "Dryptosaurus." In: Dodson, Peter & Britt, Brooks & Carpenter, Kenneth & Forster, Catherine A. & Gillette, David D. & Norell, Mark A. & Olshevsky, George & Parrish, J. Michael & Weishampel, David B. The Age of Dinosaurs. Publications International, LTD. p. 112-113. .
14. Cope, E.D. (1866). "Discovery of a gigantic dinosaur in the Cretaceous of New Jersey." Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 18: 275-279.