title: Macrodinychus mites as parasitoids of invasive ants: an overlooked parasitic association.
abstract: Mites are frequent ant symbionts, yet the exact nature of their interactions with their hosts is poorly known. Generally, myrmecophilous mites show adaptations for dispersal through phoresis, but species that lack such an adaptation may have evolved unusual specialized relationships with their hosts. The immature stages of Macrodinychus multispinosus develop as ectoparasitoids of pupae of the invasive ant Paratrechina longicornis. Feeding stages show regressed locomotor appendages. These mites complete their development on a single host, sucking all of its body content and therefore killing it. Locally high proportions of parasitized host pupae suggest that M. multispinosus could serve as a biological control agent. This is the ninth species of Macrodinychus reported as ant parasite, and the third known as parasitoid of invasive ants, confirming a unique habit in the evolution of mite feeding strategies and suggesting that the entire genus might be parasitic on ants. Several mites' characteristics, such as their protective morphology, possible viviparity, lack of a specialized stage for phoretic dispersal, and low host specificity, combined with both the general low aggressiveness of invasive P. longicornis towards other ants and its possible susceptibility to generalist ectoparasites would account for the host shift in native macrodinychid mites.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Conservación de la Biodiversidad, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Avenida Centenario Km 5.5, Chetumal 77014, Quintana Roo, Mexico.|Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 09, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Lachaud
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University, Columbus OH 43212, USA.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Klompen
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Conservación de la Biodiversidad, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Avenida Centenario Km 5.5, Chetumal 77014, Quintana Roo, Mexico.
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pérez-Lachaud
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000469:parasitology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D058865:Introduced Species; D007814:Larva / Q000502:physiology; D008925:Mites / Q000502:physiology*; D010271:Parasites / Q000502:physiology*