Experimental and Applied Acarology (2019) 78, 49-64

Guilherme Liberato da Silva, Isadora Zanatta Esswein, Daiane Heidrich, Fabíola Dresch, Mônica Jachetti Maciel, Danielle Machado Pagani, Patrícia Valente, Maria Lúcia Scroferneker, Liana Johann, Noeli Juarez Ferla and Onilda Santos da Silva (2019)
Population growth of the stored product pest Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Acari: Acaridae) on environmentally and medically important fungi
Experimental and Applied Acarology 78 (1), 49-64
Abstract: The stored food mite Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Schrank) (Acari: Acaridae) has been associated with the presence of several fungal species. The aims of this work were to evaluate T. putrescentiae population growth associated to environmental and medically important fungal species to determine on which fungal species populations of T. putrescentiae performs best, and to evaluate their ability to disperse each fungal species. First, 24 fungal species were inoculated separately in Petri dishes containing Sabouraud agar medium. One week after inoculation, 50 mites were added to each plate. On the 28th evaluation day, mites and eggs were counted in each plate, and 50 mites randomly collected from each replicate were transferred to new plates containing only Sabouraud agar medium. Then, mites, eggs, and fungal population were evaluated in each plate on day 28 again. The highest population increases were on Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Alternaria sp., Microsporum gypseum, and Aspergillus chevalieri. With Fusarium guttiforme and the medically important fungi Microsporum canis, M. gypseum, T. mentagrophytes, and Sporothrix sp., mites were observed to feed on whole mycelium. Only eight fungal species were dispersed by T. putrescentiae to the new Petri dishes: Aspergillus clavatus, Candida tropicalis, Candida albicans, Fusarium guttiforme, Hyphopichia burtonii, Penicillium citrinum, Rhizophus azygosporus, and Trichophyton mentagrophytes. The best performance of T. putrescentiae was found feeding on F. guttiforme, P. citrinum, and T. mentagrophytes. In conclusion, T. putrescentiae successfully used fungi as a food source, and it proved to be an important tool for disseminating both environmental and medically important fungi.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Liana Johann, Noeli Juarez Ferla

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Tyrophagus putrescentiae