Studies on the seven species of cheyletid mites of Japan

Abstract

The author describes seven species of cheyletid mites belonging to four genera found in Japan, as shown in Table 1. Table 2 shows the relation between the mites and their hosts or breeding materials, and collecting places. Among these seven species of mites, Cheyletus eruditus and Cheletomorpha lepidopterorum were already recorded from Japan by E. W. Baker in 1949, and Cheyletielta takahasii was found as a new species in 1951 by Sasa and Kano on Ochotona hyperborea yesoensis caught at Mt. Daisetsu in Hokkaido. The presence of the other four species in Japan, that is Cheyletus fortis, Cheyletus rapax, Eucheyletia flabellifera, Cheyletiella parasitivorax are newly reported. As shown in Table 2, the common species of mites that were collected here were Cheyletus fortis from storage foods and Eucheyletia flabellifera on small field rodents. On the other hand, Cheyletus eruditus and Cheletomorpha lepidopterorum which are regarded as cosmopolitan species of cheyletid mites were rather rarely collected.