New Species of Mite : USDA ARS

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New Species of Mite

In December 2013, Ohio State University (OSU) doctoral student Samuel Bolton under the direction of Hans Klompen at OSU finished a 12-month Smithsonian Institute Internship working with Gary Bauchan, USDA - ARS Director, Electron & Confocal Microscopy Unit and ARS entomologist Ron Ochoa at the Electron and Confocal Microscopy Unit (ECMU) to identify and describe a new, worm-like species of mite belonging to the family Nematalycidae dubbed the "Buckeye Dragon Mite".

Gary Bauchan, Director, Electron & Confocal Microscopy Unit and OSU graduate student

Sam Bolton study worm-like mite in Low-temperature Scanning Electron Microscope.

The mite, dubbed Osperalycus tenerphagus, "is the first species of this weird family to be described in over 40 years," said Bolton, who studies mite systematics under the guidance of OSU professor Hans Klompen in Columbus, Ohio.

A colorized LT-SEM image of the highly ornamented back leg of the Buckeye Dragon Mite, Osperalycus tererphagus.

Original Journal Article

Samuel J. Bolton, Hans Klompen, Gary R. Bauchan & Ronald Ochoa (2014):

A new genus and species of Nematalycidae (Acari: Endeostigmata), Journal of Natural History,

DOI:10.1080/00222933.2013.859318

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00222933.2013.859318#.UxSoAU2YaM9

April 7, 2014: Our paper is the third most downloaded article in the Journal of Natural History since the count begun back in 2011, and we have only been out for 6 weeks! We are even ahead of the famous paper by Alfred R. Wallace.

Popular Press and Scientific Articles

Scientific America

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/2014/03/31/new-worm-like-mite-features-extraordinary-upholstery/

Smithsonian Museum:

http://smithsonianscience.org/2014/03/new-dragon-like-mite-found-in-ohio-is-gentle-reclusive/

The Ohio State University

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/newmite.htm

http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~herb/museum/newsletters/MBDNewsletter1.4_Fall_2012.pdf

http://www.newswise.com/articles/worm-like-mite-species-discovered-on-ohio-state-s-campus

Entomology Society of America

http://entomologytoday.org/2014/02/20/new-species-of-bizarre-worm-like-mite-discovered-on-ohio-state-university-campus/

AAAS