title: Fossil mesostigmatid mites (Mesostigmata: Gamasina, Microgyniina, Uropodina), associated with longhorn beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in Baltic amber.
abstract: Fossil mesostigmatid mites are extremely rare. Inclusions assignable to the tortoise mites (Mesostigmata, Uropodina) are described here for the first time from Eocene (ca. 44-49 Ma) Baltic amber. This is the oldest record of Uropodina and documents the first unequivocal amber examples potentially assignable to the extant genus Uroobovella Berlese, 1903 (Uropodoidea: Urodinychidae). Further mites in the same amber pieces are tentatively assigned to Microgynioidea (Microgyniina) and Ascidae (Gamasina), both potentially representing the oldest records of their respective superfamily and family groups. This new material also preserves behavioural ecology in the form of phoretic deutonymphs attached to their carriers via a characteristic anal pedicel. These deutonymphs in amber are intimately associated with longhorn beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), probably belonging to the extinct species Nothorhina granulicollis Zang, 1905. Modern uropodines have been recorded phoretic on species belonging to several beetle families, including records of living Uroobovella spp. occurring on longhorn beetles. Through these amber inclusions, a uropodine-cerambycid association can now be dated back to at least the Eocene.
authors.affiliation: Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity at the Humboldt University Berlin, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany. Jason.Dunlop@mfn-berlin.de
authors.forename: Jason A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Dunlop
authors.forename: Jenő
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kontschán
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zwanzig
mesh_terms: D018647:Amber; D000818:Animals; D001454:Baltic States; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000469:parasitology*; D005580:Fossils; D008925:Mites / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D018647:Amber
references.citation: Biol Lett. 2012 Jun 23;8(3):457-60
references.pmid: 22072283
references.citation: Arthropod Struct Dev. 2012 May;41(3):245-57
references.pmid: 22406081