Australian species of Lasioseius (Acari: Mesostigmata: Ascidae): the porulosus group and other species from rainforest canopies

Abstract

Approximately 100 species of Lasioseius have beendescribed worldwide, yet only two species have been reported from Australia(L. boomsmai Womersley andL. queenslandicus Womersley). We recently identifiedboth of these species from rainforest canopy chemical knockdown collectionsand reared them from fungal sporocarps growing on dead trees and logs. We alsofound that species in the Lasioseius porulosus group,previously unreported from Australia, are often the most numerous predatorymites on the leaves of tropical rainforest trees and of tropical tree crops inQueensland. Herein, we provide new collection records, diagnoses andbiological information for the two previously known Australian species ofLasioseius; review the Australian members of theporulosus group; describe five new species(Lasioseius cuppa,L. quandong,L. traveni, L. wondjina andL. zaluckii); and present a key to the species ofLasioseius that inhabit rainforest leaves. One of the previous records ofL. queenslandicus is shown to represent a pantropicaltramp species,L. subterraneusChant (newly reported fromAustralia), and L. athiasae Nawar & Nasr is shown tobe a junior synonym ofL. queenslandicus.Gnorimus Chaudri, 1975, Indiraseius Dansehvar, 1987, andNeolaspina Halliday, 1995, are shown to be synonyms ofLasioseius.