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The Prostigmatic Mites of South African Lizards

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

R. F. Lawrence
R. F. Lawrence
Affiliation:
Assistant in Charge of Arachnida, South African Museum, Cape Town
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Extract

In a previous paper (1935) an account was given of the prostigmatic mites parasitic on South African lizards, belonging to the two endemic families, the Zonuridae and Gerrhosauridae. The present paper deals with the fauna of the two remaining families of lizards, the Geckonidae and Agamidae, parasitised exclusively by prostigmatic mites. Trägardh (1905) and Hirst (1926) have made the most considerable contributions to the knowledge of the parasites of Geckonid and Agamid lizards; the latter placed the group on a sound systematic basis, the former, in addition to his descriptions of new forms, contributed valuable notes on the development and morphology of the species studied. With regard to mite parasites, however, up to the present, no systematic investigation has been attempted of all the species belonging to any one family of lizards from a given zoo-geographical region. In the present paper this has been attempted; the great majority of Geckonid and all the species of Agamid lizards from the South African subregion, either as living or spirit specimens, have been examined; from most of them mite parasites have been obtained. Both families of lizards are, genealogically speaking, derived from a long-established, Saurian stock; both are, in South Africa, extremely well demarcated, homogeneous families, with their main structural characteristics varying within narrow limits. In neither of them does loss or degeneration of the limbs occur. Each family is parasitised by a single genus of prostigmatic mites, the Geckonidae by Geckobia, the Agamidae by Pterygosoma; while Geckobia is found on the Geckonidae and on no other family, Pterygosoma is also a parasite of Gerrhosaurid lizards on which three species have been found. In a previous paper by the writer (1935, p. 3) Pimeliaphilus was cited as occurring on Geckonidae. Trägardh, who erected the genus (1905, p. 31), actually found his species P. podapolipophagus living under the elytra of a beetle, Pimelia, but the other two species of the genus, P. insignis Berl. and P. tenuipes Hirst, both occur on Geckonid lizards. Neither of these two species have been found in South Africa and it is extremely unlikely that they occur in this region.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , January 1936 , pp. 1 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1936

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References

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