TY - JOUR JF - Acarologia T1 - Observations on oribatid mites in laboratory cultures VL - 14 IS - 2 SP - 281 EP - 291 PY - 1972 SN - 0044-586X SN - 2107-7207 PB - Les Amis d'Acarologia AU - Shereef, G.M. UR - https://www1.montpellier.inrae.fr/CBGP/acarologia/article.php?id=3314 DA - 1972-12-30 KW - Acari KW - Belba KW - Eremobelba KW - Granuloppia, Spatiodamaeus KW - fungus eating KW - spermatophore KW - structure KW - life cycle KW - laboratory culture KW - longevity KW - comparative study AB - Five species of oribatid mites were cultured on the fungi Penicillium martensii or Aspergillus flavus in Petri dishes and small glass cells. Data are presented on their !ife-cycles. The duration of the lifecycle varied considerably, and, in the case of species producing males, the duration of the male life-cycle was shorter than that of the female. Palaeacants kamenskii was seen to reproduce parthenogenetically. Belba meridionalis was cultured in glass cells on rz different species of fungi. As assessed by the population of all stages in the cells after 104 days, the most favourable diet was Trichodenna sp., and the least favourable Penicilliwn viridicatwn and Nhtco1 ramannianus. Data are also given on spermatophore production, and the structure of the spermatophore is described for a number of species ER -