Trombiculid Mites Affecting Man Iv. Revision of Eutrombicula in the American Hemisphere

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Abstract
This paper is an attempt to clarify the status of the medically important chigger mites known to attack human beings in the American hemisphere. In the course of investigations on the rearing of mites causing trombidiosis of human beings, identification of the species proved to be very difficult or impossible. These species form a group having similar morphological and physiological characteristics, but they have been placed in many genera including Trombicula, Eutrombicula, Trombiculoides, and Acariscus. Many of the species of this group were insufficiently defined, and at the beginning of the writer's study 25 species had been named by Italian, Dutch, German, English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and American authors. As a reult of making collections in tropical and temperate areas, examining the type specimens of eighteen species, and rearing nine kinds in the laboratory, thirteen of the species were found to be synonyms, leaving only six recognizable species and one subspecies. These mites are placed in the subgenus Eutrombicula of the genus Trombicula. Five insufficiently described species are of uncertain status since suitable specimens were not available for study.

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