TY  - JOUR
JF  - Acarologia
T1  - Phoretic, trophic and fungal associations of Histiogaster arborsignis (Acari: Acaridae) with Ips typographus: a study case from the Czech Republic
VL  - 66
IS  - 2
SP  - 317
EP  - 326
PY  - 2026
SN  - 0044-586X
SN  - 2107-7207
PB  - Les Amis d'Acarologia
AU  - Milosavljević, Marija
AU  - Žurovcová, Martina
AU  - Toušková, Hana
AU  - Žurovec, Michal
AU  - Brož, Václav
AU  - Kolesnikov, Vasiliy B.
UR  - https://doi.org/10.24349/17bh-a0yb
DO  - 10.24349/17bh-a0yb
DA  - 2026-04-14
ET  - 2026-04-14
KW  - mites
KW  - spruce bark beetle
KW  - phoresy
KW  - fungivory
KW  - entomopathogenic fungi
KW  - Beauveria bassiana
KW  - Central Europe
AB  - Histiogaster arborsignis Woodring, 1963 (Acari: Acaridae) is a fungivorous acarid mite whose phoretic deutonymphs commonly disperse on wood-boring insects. Although the mite has been reported from Ips typographus in Germany, its occurrence in Central Europe has been poorly documented. Here, we report the first confirmed record of H. arborsignis associated with the Eurasian spruce bark beetle I. typographus in the Czech Republic and provide new evidence of its ecological roles within bark beetle gallery systems. Deutonymphs carried abundant adherent fungal propagules and transferred viable spores to PDA medium, from which the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo-Crivelli, 1835) Vuillemin, 1912 was isolated and identified using multilocus DNA barcoding (ITS, TEF1-α, RPB1). The taxonomic identity of the mite was confirmed by morphology and COI sequencing. Laboratory observations showed that deutonymphs successfully moulted to adults in the presence of fungal colonies and interacted closely with mycelium, indicating the use of fungi as a developmental and nutritional resource. Feeding trials further revealed that adults actively attacked and consumed larvae and pupae of I. typographus within 24 hours, leaving only chitinised remains. Together, these results demonstrate that H. arborsignis is not merely a passive phoretic associate of I. typographus, but a multifunctional component of the bark beetle–mite–fungus system, acting simultaneously as a disperser on adult beetles, a carrier of viable entomopathogenic fungal propagules, and an opportunistic predator of susceptible beetle developmental stages. This newly documented association and regional range extension highlight the need to incorporate acarid mites into ecological and applied frameworks of bark beetle dynamics in European spruce forests.
ER -