The acarina fauna of mutton birds' nests on a Bass Strait Island

Abstract

A collection of Acarina inhabiting the nests of the mutton bird, Puffinus tenuirostris Temminek, on Fisher I., Bass Strait, is described. Fourteen species, belonging mainly to the Mesostigmata are described or recorded of which two genera Laelapsella and Austruropoda, and six species Hypoaspis acme, Laelapsella humi, Gymnolaelaps annectans, Austruropoda tasmanica, Variatipes longisetosa, and Acotyledon (Cosmoglyphus) mykytowyczi are new, Haemolaelaps marsupialis Berlese 1910 is now redescribed in the female sex after a comparison of the type in the Berlese collection in Florence. The male is described for the first time. Of the species found Hypoaspis acme, Laelapsella humi, Gymnolaelaps annectans, Haemolaelaps glasgowi, and Mesolaelaps australiensis can be considered to be ectoparasites and the remainder, except Zachvatkinia puffini which is a true feather mite, are detritus and excreta feeders.