''Aleuroglyphus ovatus'', commonly known as brown-legged mite or brownlegged grain mite, is a species of mite in the family Acaridae. It is a cosmopolitan pest of grain.

Description

''Aleuroglyphus ovatus'' has a stout and pearly white body with red-brown legs (thus the common names) and chelicerae. It is sparsely covered in

seta In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. Th ...

e, of which the only long ones are located in a thin train at the posterior of the body. At the anterior end of the body are two pairs of setae, ''ve'' and ''vi'', which are nearly level with each other. Posterior to these are the inner and outer proximal setae, with the inner pair being much shorter than the outer pair. The tarsi of females end in simple claws, like other acarids.

Life cycle

At a temperature of 25 °C and a relative humidity of 75%, the entire life cycle of ''A. ovatus'' takes approximately 16 days and 10 hours on average. It consists of five stages: egg (80 hours), larva (77 hours), protonymph (115 hours), tritonymph (122 hours) and adult. There is also a quiescent period of approximately 24 hours in between the larval, nymphal and adult stages. Adults mate multiple times with each mating lasting 2–4 minutes. Females start laying eggs 1–3 days after the initial mating and continue for a period of 4–6 days. In her lifetime, a female will lay anywhere from 33 to 78 eggs. As temperature increases, developmental time, longevity and oviposition period of ''A. ovatus'' decrease. Number of eggs laid per day, total eggs laid in a female's lifetime and

population growth Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...

rate peak at 28 °C.

Ecology

''Aleuroglyphus ovatus'' infests a range of food products including

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

, bran,

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

, dried fruit, dried vegetables, dried fish and chicken meal. It also occurs in dust of barns and grain storage facilities, hen houses and the burrows of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

s. It feeds on the

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

associated with such habitats. This species is preyed on by the

phytoseiid The Phytoseiidae are a family of mites which feed on thrips and other mite species. They are often used as a biological control agent for managing mite pests. Because of their usefulness as biological control agents, interest in Phytoseiidae has ...

mite ''Neoseiulus'' ''barkeri''.

Physiology

This mite species has a low sensitivity to neryl formate and citral, chemicals which repel some other species of grain mites.

References

{{taxonbar, from=Q49527748

External links

Semiochemicals of Aleuroglyphus ovatus, the Brown legged grain mite

Complete mitochondrial genome of ''Aleuroglyphus ovatus'' (Acari: Acaridae)
Acaridae Animals described in 1879 Agricultural pest mites