Distribution of gamasid mites on small mammals in Yunnan Province, China

Abstract

An investigation of gamasid mites on the body surface of small mammals was carried out in Yunnan Province of China from 1990 to 2004. The small mammal hosts were captured from 25 counties which represent five geographical subregions, namely Middle Subregion of Hengduan Mountains, Southern Subregion of Hengduan Mountains, Eastern Plateau Subregion of Yunnan, Western Plateau Subregion of Yunnan and Southern Mountainous Subregion of Yunnan. The captured 10803 small mammal hosts belong to nine families, 29 genera and 52 species in four orders (Rodentia, Insectivora, Scandentia and Lagomorpha). A total of 68 571 gamasid mites were collected from the body surface of the captured small mammal hosts and all the gamasid mites were identified to 10 families, 33 genera and 112 species. This paper lists all the mite species, together with their taxonomic position (genera and families) and their corresponding hosts. Much more mite species were found in the Middle Subregion of Hengduan Mountains than in other geographical subregions. The total individuals of mites and small mammals in the Middle Subregion of Hengduan Mountains are also the most plentiful in the five geographical subregions. Three dominant mite species and three dominant small mammal hosts were determined as the dominant species in the investigated areas of Yunnan Province. The dominant hosts are Rattus flavipectus (which accounts for 34.85% of the total individuals), Apodemus chevrieri (13.43%) and Rattus norvegicus (10.40%) while the dominant gamasid mite species are Laelaps nuttalli (Hirst, 1915) (27.84%), Laelaps echidninus (Berlese, 1887) (18.38%) and Laelaps guizliouensis (Gu et Wang, 1981) (14.79%). The results showed the high species diversity of gamasid mites in Yunnan Province and the uneven distribution feature in different subregions. © Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.