Mites on Pings

Fernando Rivadavia Lopes (ferndriv@usp.br)
Fri, 18 Aug 1995 17:13:49 -0500 (CDT)

> There are mites on P.alpina and P.vulgaris also. The mites appeared to be
> alive when I looked on them in a microscope. We excluded the mites when we
> counted prey-capture for P.alpina, P. villosa and P.vulgaris. For
> Pinguicula's with hibernacula (winter resting buds), the mite overwinters
> in the hibernaculum. Maybe you all should check your Pinguiculas and
> see if you have live mites on them?

> Magnus Thor`n

Aha! So these mites do live on leaves of other species of
Pinguicula! Not only should we check on all the Pings we can, but hell,
why not on Drosera, Byblis, Roridula, and Drosophyllum too?! And of
course, Triphyophyllum, in case anyone ever gets this species! Were
you aware of this article when you saw the mites Thor? Did you know what
those mites were doing there or are you killing yourself now for not
having noticed and published the discovery first!!

> There is a recent article in Oecologia about these mites with some really
> neat scanning EM photos.
>
> Antor, R.J., and M.B. Garcia. 1995. A new mite-plant association: mites
> living amidst the adhesive traps of a carnivorous plant. Oecologia
> 101:51-54.
>
> Liane Cochran-Stafira

Yes this is the one I was talking about.


Fernando Rivadavia
Sao Paulo, Brazil