FLOWER MITES AND PHORESY - THE BIOLOGY OF HATTENA-PANOPLA DOMROW AND HATTENA-COMETIS DOMROW (ACARI, MESOSTIGMATA, AMEROSEIIDAE)

Two flower-inhabiting ameroseiid mites exhibited different degrees of host specificity; Hattena panopla occurred only in Bruguiera gymnorhiz a, but Hattena cometis occurred in Aegiceras corniculatum, Castanosper mum australe, Dendrophthoe vitellina, Erythrina variegara, Aloe sp. an d Amyema sp. Both species of mite consumed nectar and probably pollen in the laboratory. Flowers of B. gymnorhiza were short lived and senes ced after about 5 days. Most H. panopla inhabited the flower for 1-3 d ays and relied on birds for transport between flowers, but could move from flower to flower via plant stems and were found on ants visiting dying flowers. H. panopla responded to an aging flower by moving out o f the petals onto the calyx. All post-larval stages of H. panopla were phoretic; many immature mites of both species dispersed by climbing o nto the dorsal surface of dispersing adult mites. The dispersal of imm ature mites and the behavioural response of H. panopla to flower age w ere considered to be adaptations to the mite's ephemeral habitat. Adul t female H. cometis and adult male and female H. panopla had sucker-li ke ambulacra that lacked claws, a probable adaptation for phoresy.