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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 22(1)

Systematics and phylogeny of Chrysomelobia species (Acari : Podapolipidae), sexually transmitted parasites of chrysomelid beetles

Owen D. Seeman
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- Author Affiliations

Queensland Museum, PO Box 3300, South Brisbane, Qld 4101, Australia. Email: owen.seeman@qm.qld.gov.au

Invertebrate Systematics 22(1) 55-84 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS06035
Submitted: 1 September 2006  Accepted: 28 January 2008   Published: 18 March 2008

Abstract

Chrysomelobia Regenfuss and Parobia Seeman & Nahrung are sexually transmitted mites, the former being parasites of chrysomelid beetles in the Americas, Europe and Africa, the latter a radiation on the Paropsini (Chrysomelidae) in Australia. A cladistic analysis of Chrysomelobia and Parobia shows the type species of Chrysomelobia, C. mahunkai Regenfuss, is placed within Parobia. Therefore, Parobia is synonymised with Chrysomelobia, which has priority. I describe another nine new species of Chrysomelobia from Australian paropsine beetles: C. aquariolus, sp. nov., C. orthagoriscus, sp. nov. and C. cubile, sp. nov. from Paropsis porosa Erichson; C. lipsettae, sp. nov. from Dicranosterna pedestris (Chapuis); C. armstrongi, sp. nov. from Paropsisterna sp. nr minerva (Blackburn); C. pagurus, sp. nov. from Paropsis charybdis Stål; and C. nahrungae, sp. nov., C. vafer, sp. nov. and C. verecundus, sp. nov. from three species of Trachymela. Chrysomelobia captivus (Seeman & Nahrung) is recorded from Paropsisterna nobilitata (Erichson) for the first time. Most Australian members of Chrysomelobia are host-specific and beetles may host up to three mite species. Within species-groups of mites, species that share the same host genus are closely related. However, mite species that share the same host species are usually from different species-groups of mites. Although these patterns suggest co-speciation at terminal nodes and host transfers at deeper nodes, little can be made of these patterns without a host phylogeny. Keys to Chrysomelobia adults are provided.


Acknowledgements

I greatly appreciate the help of Jenny Beard (Australian Quarantine Inspection Service, Queensland) for her illustrations of Parobia lipsettae, Parobia vafer and Parobia verecundus; Bob Husband (Adrian College, Michigan) for useful discussion, comments on a draft of this manuscript, data on Chrysomelobia and kindly sending specimens of C. mahunkai, C. labidomerae, larval C. peruviensis, and T. africanus; Gunter Maywald (CSIRO, Queensland) for help with beetle identifications; two anonymous reviewers and Andre Bochkov who provided useful comments and annotations; Christine Lambkin for calculating Bremer support values; and to all those who have collected beetles for me, but especially Helen Nahrung and Vin Patel, who were extraordinarily successful at finding mite-infested beetles. This project was supported by an Australian Biological Resource Study (ABRS) grant.


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