Acarina of the Family Cheyletidae of the World [antikvár]

PREFACEThe family Cheyletidae Leach is one of the central families of trombidiform mites and comprises about 150 species. Somé species are predators of mites of other groups and small insects, including pests of cultivated crops, forest trees, and warehouses, as well as parasites of mammals and birds. The highly character-istic morphology and biology of this family makes it interesting from a theoretical point of view.Several monographs have been published on the family Cheyletidae, which give a fairly comprehensive description of the genera and species, mostly of aduit mites, or keys for their identification (Oudemans, 1906; Rohdendorf, 1940; Baker, 1949). Literature on the preimaginal phases is very scant, however. The aforementioned work by Oudemans (1906) contains a brief description of the larvae of two species and nymphs of nine species; more recent articles have literally disposed of these phases in just a few lines. The development and biology of chey-letids are virtually unknown. The morphology of mites, their nomenclature, and variability and rangé of characters have not been adequately studied. The evolution of cheyletids and their generic relationships within the family have not been studied at all.Due to the paucity of information, it is not possible to evaluate the role of cheyletids in suppressing the pest population of agricultural crops, forests, and warehouses. Parasitological studies are woefully wanting.Hence the need for a detailed and thorough analysis of the morphological structures of aduit mites and their preimaginal phases. For several years I studied the extensive collection of the Zoological Institute, Academy of Sciences, USSR, my own collection, the collections of specialists from various regions of the Soviet Union, and material from the scientific institutions of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Israel, Italy, Japan,