Harvest Mites — Costa Rican Bird Parasites

Literák I., Stekoľnikov A. A., Havlíček M., Čapek M., Rodríguez B. C.

p. 271-274
In 2004, the authors studied harvest mite (mites of the family Trombiculidae) larvae (chiggers) as part of the research into bird ectoparasites in Costa Rica. Harvest mites are also known as red bugs or trombiculid mites. 25 bird species, mostly passerines, from two sites in the Caribbean lowland rainforest were examined. In total, six harvest mite species were found: of these, three have not yet been described and two have not been reported from Costa Rica. This article presents remarkable aspects of the distribution, bionomics and life cycle in these bird parasites.

p. 271