A review of the genus Asca (Acarina : Ascidae) in Australia, with descriptions of three new leaf-inhabiting species

Abstract

Australian mites in the genus Asca were last reviewed in 1956 when the first three Australian species were described. We here provide diagnoses for those species, describe three new species (Asca macromela, A. grostali and A. mindi) from the leaves of rainforest trees, and report on the occurrence in Australia of a species described from New Zealand (A. porosa Wood) and of a cosmopolitan thelytokous species (A. garmani Hurlbutt). Keys to the eight species and the three species-groups they represent are provided. Examination of 13 266 leaves from 193 species of woody plants in eastern Australian forests indicated that Asca mites are abundant and diverse inhabitants of tropical rainforest canopies, but decline in both diversity and abundance with increasing latitude.