Tag Archives: phoresy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1NFH8OvA44&feature=plcp

The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) is an invasive species in the Southern USA, originally being native in South America. The species disperses rapidly and eliminates in the US native insect species respectively native fire ants. Nests can be found nearly everywhere, on cemeteries as well as in private yards or along the streets. The hurtful sting of a worker can cause allergic reactions. To become able to control this ant, all kinds of knowledge about its biology are needed.
Not so much is known about cohabitants inside the ant nests. Many arthropods and other small animals are known to be regular coresidents in ant nests. Some studies about the biodiversity in the nests of S. invicta were already done. Often, there is not so much known about the biology of discovered species.
Several species of mites live in the fire ant nests. Some belong to the Astigmata. At least 3 species of Histiostomatidae (subgroup of the Astigmata) were discovered. They obviously all represent new species. A colleague and me, weI described Histiostoma blomquisti as a new species.
Many details about its biology/ecology are still unknown. We know that the phoretic dispersal stage, the deutonymph, attaches only active queens and female alates (only accidentally sometimes males). Female alates are used as carriers for the phoretic transport. They carry the mites from one nest into a new one. That way they act as a kind of stowaways. They leave the ants inside the nest to continue their development. So far, it’s not exactly known, where adults feed and reproduce inside the ant nests. Under natural conditions active nest queens can be attached by this mite in great numbers. The queen depicted in this film was collected with this mass of mite deutonymphs I the field. It’s not a laboratory artefact to be attached by much more than hundred mite deutonymphs. Why also active queens are attached is still unknown.
The species description as well as some biological information are published:
WIRTH S. & MOSER J. C. (2010): Histiostoma blomquisti N. SP. (Acari: Histiostomatidae) A phoretic mite of the red imported ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Acarologia 50(3):357-371.

Continue reading →