Mites of the Macrocheles muscaedomesticae group in Australia (Acarina : Macrochelidae)

Abstract

The group of species related to Macrocheles muscaedomesticae includes six species in Australia: M. feehani, sp, nov., M. kappa, sp, nov., M. muscaedomesticae (Scopoli), M. novaezelandiae Emberson, M. paralius, sp. nov., M. similis Krantz & Filipponi. The females of these species are described or re-described and keyed, and descriptions are given of most of the previously unknown males and juveniles. The species are united by the pattern of ornamentation of the sternal shield of the female, a combination of smooth and pilose dorsal setae, and the presence of a holoventral shield in the male. M. similis is shown to reproduce by thelytokous parthenogenesis, and this property, like the presence of 29 pairs of setae on the dorsal shield, is shown to have appeared more than once in the genus Macrocheles.