Haemogamasus pontiger (Berlese, 1903)

Laelaps pontiger Berlese, 1903a: 260.

Eulaelaps mawsoni Womersley, 1937: 19.

Eulaelaps pontiger.— Vitzthum, 1930: 411.

Haemogamasus oudemansi Hirst, 1914: 122, pl. XIV–XVI; Bregetova, 1949: 171, figs 6–7; Bregetova, 1955: 261, 280, figs 479–482, 545–547.

Euhaemogamasus oudemansi.— Keegan, 1951: 240, figs 48, 49; Willmann, 1952: 402.

Haemogamasus pontiger.— Bregetova, 1956a: 129, 152, figs 257–260, 329–331; Lange, 1958: 210, pl. LXXV, H, fig. 52, E; Strandtmann & Wharton, 1958: 135; Allred & Beck, 1966: 12, figs 50, 115, 204, 243, 354, 552; Evans & Till, 1966: 257, fig. 66; Allred, 1969: 110, fig. E7; Karg 1971: 188, fig. 201d; Zemskaya, 1973: 112; Williams et al., 1978: 267, fig. 11, a– n; Domrow, 1988: 847; Nikulina, 1987: 223, fig. 116 (1, 11); Senotrusova, 1987: 33, figs 13, 14; Haitlinger, 1988: 542, fig.

8, 9; Lundquist, 1990: 332, figs 2, C, 3, C; Goncharova et al., 1991: 46; Karg, 1993: 166; Mašán & Fend’a, 2010: 105, figs 58, 72, 80, 102–105; Fyodorova & Kharadov, 2012: 275, 277.

Type locality. Italy (Florenсе and Padova).

Type specimens. Italy, Florence, Istituto Sperimentale per la Zoologia Agraria (fide Domrow, 1988).

Type host. Not stated; Berlese (1903a) described this species as not associated with any mammal host.

Host range. The association of Hg. pontiger with small mammals is, perhaps, the least pronounced within the genus. It may live freely and be found in stored products, hay and other farm habitats (Keegan, 1951; Evans & Till, 1966; Goncharova et al., 1991). It is frequently found in nests and burrows of various small mammals, including those inhabiting food stores (common rat, house mouse).

Distribution. A cosmopolitan mite. Its range covers all continents, including some Antarctic islands, where it was introduced by humans (Womersley, 1937; Rounsevell, 1978). It was recorded from almost all large physicalgeographical regions of Asiatic Russia, including Kamchatka Peninsula and Sakhalin Island (Nikulina, 2004).