Robert E. Beer. 1963. Social parasitism in the Tarsonemidae, with description of a new species of tarsonemid mite involved. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 56 (2): 153–160.

Keywords: Robert E. Beer. 1963. Social parasitism in the Tarsonemidae, with description of a new species of tarsonemid mite involved.

Two species of tarsonemid mites, Steneotarsouemus fulgens Beer and S.nitidus, new species, were found to be involved in the exploitation of galligenous tissues caused by eriophyid mites. Phyllocoptes didelphis Keifer inhabits leaf galls on Populus grandidentata Michx. and P. tremuloides Michx. Steneotarsonemus fulgensinvades such galls, causing abandonment of the gall by the original tenants. The tarsonemid species then utilizes galligenous tissues as a food source. A similar relationship was found to exist between Eriophyes laevis (Nalepa), a gall-forming species on Betula papyrifera Marsh, and Steneotarsonemus nitidus. The relationships of the two pairs of unrelated phytophagous mites is interpreted as an unusual form of social parasitism.