Laelaps (mite)

Laelaps is a genus of common parasitic mites in the family Laelapidae. Species, with their hosts, include:

• Laelaps acuminata – Oecomys[1]
• Laelaps agilis – Rattus[2]
• Laelaps alaskensis – Blarina, Dicrostonyx, Lemmiscus, Lemmus, Microtus, Mustela, Myodes, Myotis, Napaeozapus, Ochrotomys, Ondatra, Onychomys, Parascalops, Peromyscus, Phenacomys, Poliocitellus, Sorex, Synaptomys, Thomomys[3]
• Laelaps boultoni – Neacomys, Sigmodon, Oligoryzomys, Oecomys, Heteromys[4]
• Laelaps castroi – Oligoryzomys[1]
• Laelaps clethrionomydis – Microtus,[5] Myodes[2]
• Laelaps conula – Rhipidomys[4]
• Laelaps crinigera – Oryzomyini[6]
• Laelaps dearmasi – Zygodontomys[4]
• Laelaps differens[1]
• Laelaps echidnina – Rattus,[4] Didelphis, Sigmodon,[5] Mus, Peromyscus, Sylvilagus[2]
• Laelaps evansi – Neofiber[5]
• Laelaps exceptionalis – "wild rat"[4]
• Laelaps flexa – Microryzomys[1]
• Laelaps giganteus – Lemniscomys[7]
• Laelaps incilis – Microtus, Neotamias, Peromyscus[2]
• Laelaps kochi – Blarina, Corynorhinus, Dicrostonyx, Dipodomys, Glaucomys, Microtus, Mustela, Myodes, Napaeozapus, Neotamias, Neovison, Neurotrichus, Ondatra, Peromyscus, Phenacomys, Sigmodon, Sorex, Synaptomys, Tamias, Zapus[3]
• Laelaps lavieri – Mus[8]
• Laelaps lemmi – Lemmus[2]
• Laelaps liberiensis – Mastomys[7]
• Laelaps manguinhosi – Holochilus, Nectomys, Neusticomys, and various other mammals[4]
• Laelaps mazzai – Calomys, Oligoryzomys[6]
• Laelaps multispinosa – Castor, Didelphis, Microtus, Mustela, Neovison, Ondatra, Peromyscus, Procyon[9]
• Laelaps muricola – Mastomys[7]
• Laelaps muris – Microtus, Ondatra[2]
• Laelaps navasi – Oryzomyini[6]
• Laelaps nuttalli – Mus, Ochrotomys, Peromyscus,[2] Rattus,[4] Sciurus[10]
• Laelaps ovata – Nephelomys[4]
• Laelaps paulistanensis – Rhipidomys, Oryzomyini[1]
• Laelaps pilifer – Oryzomyini[1]
• Laelaps spicata – Oryzomyini[6]
• Laelaps stupkai – Synaptomys[10]
• Laelaps surcomata – Rhipidomys[6]
• Laelaps thori[4]

Laelaps
Laelaps hilaris drawn by Oudemans.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Arachnida
Subclass:	Acari
Order:	Mesostigmata
Family:	Laelapidae
Genus:	Laelaps Koch, 1836
Type species
Laelaps agilis Koch, 1836
Species
See text

Unnamed or unidentified species have been reported on Gerbilliscus robustus and Acomys wilsoni in Tanzania[7] and on the marsh rice rat (Oryzomys palustris) in Florida and Georgia.[11]

Synonym of Dryptosaurus

In 1866, an incomplete theropod dinosaur skeleton (ANSP 9995) was found in New Jersey by workers in a quarry belonging to the upper part of the New Egypt Formation.[12] Paleontologist E.D. Cope described the remains, naming the creature "Laelaps" ("storm wind", after the dog in Greek mythology that never failed to catch what it was hunting).[13] "Laelaps" became one of the first dinosaurs described from North America (following Hadrosaurus, Aublysodon and Trachodon). Subsequently, it was discovered that the name "Laelaps" had already been given to a genus of mite, and Cope's lifelong rival O.C. Marsh changed the name in 1877 to Dryptosaurus.

See also

• List of parasites of the marsh rice rat

References

1. Furman, 1972, p. 20
2. Whitaker and Wilson, 1974, p. 10
3. Whitaker and Wilson, 1974, p. 10; Whitaker et al., 2007, p. 20
4. Furman, 1972, p. 19
5. Whitaker et al., 2007, p. 20
6. Furman, 1972, p. 18
7. Stanley et al., 2007, p. 70
8. Stanley et al., 2007, p. 71
9. Whitaker and Wilson, 1974, p. 10; Whitaker et al., 2007, p. 21
10. Whitaker et al., 2007, p. 21
11. Worth, 1950, p. 330; Morlan, 1952, table 2
12. "Dryptosaurus." In: Dodson, Peter & Britt, Brooks & Carpenter, Kenneth & Forster, Catherine A. & Gillette, David D. & Norell, Mark A. & Olshevsky, George & Parrish, J. Michael & Weishampel, David B. The Age of Dinosaurs. Publications International, LTD. p. 112-113. ISBN 0-7853-0443-6.
13. Cope, E.D. (1866). "Discovery of a gigantic dinosaur in the Cretaceous of New Jersey." Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 18: 275-279.

Literature cited

• Furman, D.P. 1972. Laelapid mites (Laelapidae: Laelapinae) from Venezuela. Brigham Young University Science Bulletin 17(3):1–58.
• Morlan, H.B. 1952. Host relationships and seasonal abundance of some Southwest Georgia ectoparasites (subscription required). American Midland Naturalist 48(1):74–93.
• Stanley, W.T., Rogers, M.A., Senzota, R.B.M., Mturi, F.A., Kihaule, P.M., Moehlman, P.D. and O'Connor, B.M. 2007. Surveys of small mammals in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania. Journal of East African Natural History 96(1):47–71.
• Whitaker, J.O. and Wilson, N. 1974. Host and distribution lists of mites (Acari), parasitic and phoretic, in the hair of wild mammals of North America, north of Mexico (subscription required). American Midland Naturalist 91(1):1–67.
• Whitaker, J.O., Walters, B.L., Castor, L.K., Ritzi, C.M. and Wilson, N. 2007. Host and distribution lists of mites (Acari), parasitic and phoretic, in the hair or on the skin of North American wild mammals north of Mexico: records since 1974. Faculty Publications from the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln 1:1–173.
• Worth, C.B. 1950. Observations on ectoparasites of some small mammals in Everglades National Park and Hillsborough County, Florida (subscription required). The Journal of Parasitology 36(4):326–335.