Bakerdania rotunda, a new species of the Pygmephoridae is described and illustrated on the basis of a female specimen collected from moss growing on a tree stump in Shizuoka Prefecture, Central Japan. This species is closely related to B. dryophilus Sevastianov, 1975, from Ukraine, but distinguished from the latter mainly by the greater length and/or barbation of most coxal setae.

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Aoki, J., 1992. Oribatid mites inhabiting orchid plants in greenhouse. J. Acarol. Soc. Jpn., 1(1): 7-13.
Four species of oribatid mites, Mochlozetes penetrabilis Grandjean, Peloribates grandis(Willmann), Scheloribates decarinatus Aoki and Hemileius clavatus sp. n. were found on living orchid plants in a greenhouse in Utsunomiya City of Central Japan. The former two species have hitherto been known only from South America and are reported for the first time from Japan. The new species, H. clavatus, differs from the known congeners in clavate sensilli, long interlamellar setae and minute notogastral setae. These oribatid mites appear to feed on fungi growing on orchid plants.

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Chinzei, Y., D. Taylor, K. Miura and K. Ando, 1992. Vitellogenesis induction by synganglion factor in adult female tick, Ornithodoros moubata(Acari: Argasidae). J. Acarol. Soc. Jpn., 1(1): 15-26.
Vitellogenesis, vitellogenin(Vg)induction in the hemolymph and ovarian development, was studied in unengorged female adults injected with synganglion(SyG)extract and treated with cypermethrin(CyM)in the tick, Ornithodoros moubata(Acari, Argasidae). CyM induced Vg in the hemolymph in the anterior parts of ligated females which contain the SyG, but did not induce vitellogenesis in the posterior part. This result suggests that the SyG is stimulated by treatment with CyM to release a factor for inducing vitellogenesis(vitellogenin inducing factor=VIF). We showed the injection of SyG extracts prepared from unengorged females induced a significant increase of Vg in the hemolymph and ovarian development, but that of SyG extracts from engorged females did not. This indicates that the unengorged female SyG contains the factor, VIF, which is released during or after engorgement. This SyG factor was sensitive to proteases, trypsin and chymotrypsin, indicating the factor is a peptide.

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To clarify the epidemiological situation of Lyme borreliosis in Fukui Prefecture, we surveyed tick fauna and the prevalence of the pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi(Bb)in 14 mountainous points of the Prefecture during April to July in 1991. In this time, 4 genera and 13 species(including 2 unassociated species)belonging family Ixodidae were found. Of these, most of the common species including Ixodes ovatus(Io)were collected throughout the hilly or lower mountainous areas, and the southern species, Amblyomma testudinarium and Dermacentor taiwanensis were recorded first in Fukui Pref. The famous northern species, I. persulcatus(Ip)was collected at higher mountains over 800m.
A total of 307 adult ticks consisting of 4 genera and 9 species were individually examined to isolate Borrelia. As results, 32 and 3 Bb strains were isolated from Io(32/154=20.8%)and Ip(3/27=11.1%), respectively. While almost all of strains were positive to a monoclonal antibody(H5332: specific to outer surface protein A)by IFA, but 2 of 3 strains from Ip were not responsible. Additionally, one strain was first isolated from the nymphal stage of Haemaphysalis flava.

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Ixodes columnae sp. nov. was described, based on the specimens of larva(Ixodes sp. L1), nymph(I. sp. N2)and adult female associated by laboratory rearing. The new species is distinguished from all other East Asian species by the columnar entasis-like hypostome through all stages. The ecological data on hosts and distributions were also given.

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Developmental success on 55 species of plant, traits of population growth, reproductive compatibility and esterase zymograms were studied for three strains of the hawthorn spider mite, Tetranychus viennensis Zacher, collected from apple, cherry and deciduous oak trees, respectively. The host ranges for the apple and cherry strains of mites were similar, but were different from the host range for the deciduous oak strain. The intrinsic rates of natural increase(rm)for the apple and deciduous oak strains were similar, but slightly lower than the value for the cherry strain, showing no clear difference in rm between the two rosaceous strains and the deciduous oak strain. Each strain produced both female and male progeny.Inter-strain crosses between the apple and cherry strains also produced both sexes, but either of these strains produced only male progeny when paired with the deciduous oak strain, suggesting that the former were reproductively incompatible with the deciduous oak strain.Among the8esterase bands detected in mites, one(E7)was common for all the three strains, and another band(E1)appeared only in the cherry strain. Three other bands were exclusively found in both the apple and cherry strains. The rest were found only in the deciduous oak strain. These results clearly suggest that the apple and cherry strains on rosaceous trees constitute one species while the deciduous oak strain from fagaceous trees belongs to another.

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