The male of Pachylaelaps copris Ishikawa is described and illustrated on the basis of materials from Hokkaido, northern Japan. This species has been collected only from the body surface of the dung beetle Copris ochus Motschulsky.

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A new species in the genus Anomalohalacarus Newell is described under the name of Anomalohalacarus biformis. sp. on the basis of specimens from a subtidal sandy sediment in Tottori Prefecture, western Japan. A. biformis is closely related to Anomalohalacarus macellus Bartsch, 1993, but differs from this species in the structure of the genitoanal region in the female and in the leg chaetotaxy. This is the first record of the genus Anomalohalacarus from the Pacific region. Morphological features of genitoanal and posterior dorsal plates are discussed on the basis of the new species and so far known species.The character of the posterior genital platelet is thought to be more important taxonomically than that of the genital groove in the female. According to the criterion of ontogenetic character precedence and the rule of out-group comparison, the divided condition of the posterior dorsal plate observed in Anomalohalacarus is considered to be an apomorphic character state.

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Two new spider mites were described and illustrated from Honshu: Panonychus osmanthi sp. nov. from Osmanthus fragrans Lour. var. aurantiacus Makino in Ryugasaki, Ibaraki Pref., andTetranychus pueraricola sp. nov. from Pueraria lobata(Willd.)Ohwi in Hitachi-Ohta, Ibaraki Pref. Specimens of P. osmanthi from Fukuoka Pref., Kyushu, were also examied. P. osmanthi is a siblingspecies of P. citri(McGregor), while T. pueraricola is a sibling species of T. urticae Koch.

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The characteristics of faecal pellet deposition by Trhypochthoniellus setosus were observed in laboratory cultures, especially in relation to temperature and food type. T. setosus is panphytophagous and is the most dominant species of oribatid mite communities in a moor at Yachidaira, Northeast Japan. The mean volume of faecal pellets per individual in each developmental stage was estimated to be: 27×10-³mm³ (larva), 53(protonymph), 95(deutonymph), 257 (tritonymph)and720(adult). The number of faecal pellets deposited per individual per day increased with temperature but the total amount of faecal matter in the protonymphal stage varied little in the range20-29°C. Mites deposited more faecal pellets when fed on decayed leaves of Moliniopsis japonica, compared with fresh leaves of M. japonica or Sphagnum tenellum.Overall gut residence time in adults was only4hours at22°C. The abundance of faecal pellets and the short gut residence time of T. setosus are discussed with reference to feeding habit and habitat.

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Kadosaka, T. and J. Hasegawa, 1996. A case of human tick bite by Ixodes turdus. J.Acarol. Soc. Jpn., 5(1): 39-40.
A case of human tick bite by an adult female of Ixodes turdus was reported as the sixth case in Japan. On April1995, the tick was found on the vertex region of the scalp of a4-year-old girl living in Kasugai-City, Aichi.

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