Nematode-Feeding Mites and Their Feeding Behaviour

Abstract

Eighteen species of mesostigmatids, 22 of cryptostigmatids and one of astigmatids fed on soil nematodes. All mesostigmatids and astigmatids and 7 species of cryptostigmatids devoured whole living nematodes, while the remaining cryptostigmatids fed only on their body fluids. No mites fed on sedentary forms of nematodes such as cysts Heterodera or adult females of Meloidogyne. Caloglyphus sp. (Astigmata) took 8 days of complete its life cycle when feeding on the nematode Cephalobus sp. at 23°C. When populations of Caloglyphus sp. and Cephalobus sp. (Nematoda) were mixed and inoculated into the soli, the nematodes decreased in number. The number of hypopi of Caloglyphus sp. increased when the mite had not been served with food (nematodes). © 1976, JAPANESE SOCIETY OF APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY AND ZOOLOGY. All rights reserved.