New Water Mite Species Discovered in Brazil

Posted on August 6, 2015

Scientists have discovered a new water mite genus and species in the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil. The mite was found after sampling bromeliad aquatic fauna.

The new mite was named Bromeliacarus cardoso after its host and the Latin word for mite, which is acarus. The "cardoso" portion of the name refers to the collection point where the mite was found in the State Park of Ilha do Cardoso, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Vladimir Pesic, lead author of the study from the Department of Biology, University of Montenegro, says in a statement, "A diverse aquatic arthropod fauna is associated with bromeliad tank, composed mainly of aquatic insect larvae of several groups such as dipterans, beetles and damselflies, but also small non-insect invertebrates, such as ostracods, oligochaetes and mites. The new species appear to live only in the water-filled leaf axils of the bromeliads where they walk attached to submerged detritus in bromeliads tank or free swimming in water column."

The mites were collected from phytotelmata of the Quesnelia arvensis bromeliad species. Each leaf of the bromeliad was carefully dissected and washed and the water was collected in white trays. The mites were extracted from the water in fixed in 80% alcohol.

The researchers found that the number of acetabula flanking the gonopore varies from 7 to 9 on each side. The mites appear to live only in the water-filled leaf axils of the bromeliads. Pesic says the newly discovered water mite is a top predator in the bromeliad aquatic microcosm.

A research paper on the new mite genus and species was published here in the journal, ZooKeys.



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