Body sizes in the Mesostigmata (Acari)

• Main Author: Seeman, O (via Mendeley Data)
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Interdisciplinary sciences; Greenland; Iceland; Mite
• Online Access: http://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:nl:ui:13-7x-kbvh; https://easy.dans.knaw.nl/ui/datasets/id/easy-dataset:288375

Supporting data for Seeman & Nahrung's manuscript "In short or long-term relationships, size does matter: body size patterns in the Mesostigmata (Acari: Parasitiformes)", published in "International Journal of Acarology".Data was used to test two hypotheses: "Are mesostigmatan mites in symbiotic relationships larger or smaller than those that are free-living?” and "“Are mites are larger in cold climates compared with warm climates?”.Methods, copied from manuscript:Body sizes for adult female Mesostigmata were taken from the published literature. Idiosomal length was preferred, but dorsal shield length was used if idiosomal length was unavailable and if the dorsal shield covered most of the idiosoma. Body length was sometimes estimated from illustrations if idiosomal measurements were not provided in the description. If mean length was provided then this was preferred; otherwise the midpoint of the range was used. Body size and symbiosesEach mite species was placed in a “host intimacy” category according to the type of symbiosis, i.e. free-living, parasitic (typically present on the host in all life stages), and commensal: a broad grouping of intermediate symbioses primarily comprising phoretic species, but also inquilines. Phoretic species that sometimes feed from their carrier, such as Macrocheles subbadius (Berlese) (see Polak 1996), were regarded as commensal. Also, species that are found in ephemeral habitats and belong to a group where phoresy was well-known were scored as being commensal. For example, macrochelid mites found in dung were presumed to be phoretic on dung-inhabiting insects; however, if recorded from soil or leaf litter, they were presumed to be free-living.Body size and climateLocality data was broadly grouped into tropical (0-23.5°), subtropical (23.5°-35°), temperate (35°-66.5°) and polar classes. As few mites were in the polar class, some cold temperate localities were included in this class to allow hypotheses to be tested; these localities were southern Greenland, Iceland, ...