Stigmaeidae - Eustigmaeus lirella
Family Stigmaeidae
Eustigmaeus lirella Size: Group Guild Status Eutroglophile Predator Common Most species of Eustigmaeus are predators that occurs in soil and leaf litter (Welbourn 1999), and a few feed on mosses (Kethley 1990). E. lirella has been taken from a wood rat nest in California (Welbourn 1999). One species of Eustigmaeus (E. johnstoni) is a known parasite on tropical phlebotomine flies (Zhang and Gerson 1995). An association of E. lirella with the phlebotomine fly (Lutzomyia [californica?]) present in Kartchner Caverns is considered unlikely since the mite is apparently involved in the ecology of the bat guano deposits far from where the flies have been found in the cave (Throne Room and Granite Dells). |
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