Sphaeroseius ecitophilus

Taxobox
name = "Sphaeroseius ecitophilus"


image_width = 250px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Arachnida
ordo = Acari
superfamilia = Dermanyssoidea
genus = "Sphaeroseius"
species = "S. ecitophilus"
binomial = "Sphaeroseius ecitophilus"
binomial_authority = Mello-Leitão, 1925

"Sphaeroseius ecitophilus" is a South American species of mite.

Mello-Leitão established the spider family Brucharachnidae in 1925 for the newly discovered genus and species from Córdoba, Argentina, "Brucharachne ecitophila", based on a (purportedly) female specimen. He thought it the most curious spider he had ever seen. The "Brucharachnidae" were thought to be related to the spider family Oonopidae.

In 1995, Norman I. Platnick re-examined the original specimen, and found it not to be a spider at all, but an extraordinary male mite that very much resembles a spider. He placed it under the existing myrmecophilous genus "Sphaeroseius".

Mites of the genus "Sphaeroseius" have only been found in association with ecitonine army ants ("Neivamyrmex", "Labidus") in Brazil, Argentina, and possibly Costa Rica.

Etymology

The species name "ecytophilus" means "Eciton-loving".

References

* Krantz, Gerald W. & Platnick, Norman I. (1995): On "Brucharachne", the spider that wasn't (Arachnida, Acari, Dermanyssoidea). "American Museum Novitates" 3151: 1-8. [http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/3671/1/N3151.pdf PDF fulltext]