MESOSTIGMATIC MITES (ACARI) ASSOCIATED WITH GROUND, BURYING, ROVING CARRION AND DUNG BEETLES (COLEOPTERA) IN SAPPORO AND TOMAKOMAI, HOKKAIDO, NORTHERN JAPAN

A total of 19 species belonging to 5 families of mesostigmatic mites were collected in Sapporo and Tomakomai, northern Japan, on four groups of beetles, i.e., ground beetles (Carabinae, Carabidae), burying beetles (Nicrophorini, Silphinae, Silphidae), roving carrion beetles (Silphini, Silphinae, Silphidae) and dung beetles (Scarabaeidae and Geotrupidae), all of which mainly forage on the ground surface. No mite species was found on more than one group of beetles except for Poecilochirus carabi, which was found almost exclusively on burying beetles and rarely on ground beetles. Mites also seemed to be specific to particular beetle group(s) at the family level. Thus, the ''phoretic'' mite faunas were distinctly different between the beetle groups: ground beetles (seven species) were characterized by carrying only one mite species, Iphidosoma fimetarium, burying beetles (two species) by two mite species (Alliphis necrophilus, P. carabi), roving carrion beetles (three species) by one mite species, Rhodacaridae sp., and dung beetles (11 species) by 15 mite species that included 8 species of Macrocheles. Mites associated with dung beetles included specialist species such as Holostaspella sp. 1 which was specific to subsocial Copris ochus, and generalist species like Macrocheles sp. aff. glaber that was found on nine dung beetle species.