| Podapolipidae | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Superorder: | Acariformes |
| Order: | Trombidiformes |
| Family: | Podapolipidae |
Podapolipidae is a family of mites. [1] All members of the family Podapolipidae are specialized obligate external (and rarely internal) parasites of various insects, [2] among which at least 20 genera are subelytral ectoparasites of different beetle families, mainly Carabidae, Chrysomelidae, Coccinellidae, and Scarabaeidae. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
These mites are sexually transmitted, i.e. the motile stages of the mite (larvae or adult females) move from one host individual to another during copulation. [8] Parasitisation with these mites can negatively affect host fitness. For example, in some ladybirds, individuals parasitised with Coccipolipus suffer lower fecundity and egg viability [8] and sometimes reduced longevity. [9] Beyond this, these mites can modify host sexual and behavioural traits to boost their transmission success among individual hosts. [10] For example, in the milk weed leaf beetle, males parasitized by Chrysomelobia tend to more frequently contact other males, and are more successful in mating competition compared to unparasitised males; and this facilitates the mite’s higher transmission rate. [10] [5]
Four genera of Podapolipidae are exclusively associated with carabid beetles: Dorsipes (22 species), Eutarsopolipus (99 species), Ovacarus (3 species) and Regenpolipus (5 species). [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] Apart from Ovacarus, which is an endoparasite of the reproductive tracts of some carabids, the rest are subelytral ectoparasites. [12] Species of Eutarsopolipus are versatile in morphology and are currently grouped into ten species groups. [17] Most of the species are specific to a single host species. However, a few parasitize more than one host species [18] or more rarely more than one genus, [13] yet the possibility of them being cryptic species remains untested. More interestingly, in some cases more than one species can parasitize one host species [17] and sometimes they are specialized to different microhabitats such as the elytral cavity, on hindwings or on the dorsal abdomen of their host. [19] [5]
