OCCURRENCE OF HEMIPTEROSEIUS ADLERI IN POLAND AND LITHUANIA Occurrence of Hemipteroseius adleri (Acari: Mesostigmata: Otopheidomenidae) infesting Pyrrhocoris apterus (Insecta: Heteroptera: Pyrrhocoridae) in Pu3awy and other localities in Poland and Lithuania

So far, the ectoparasitic mite Hemipteroseius adleri Costa has been reported in Poland only from Warsaw. In the palace-park complex in Pu3awy (E Poland), observations of this parasite were conducted on insects sampled in 2003 (autumn) and 2004 (spring). Acarological analyses of the insects, i.e. 1706 live imagines of the red firebug, Pyrrhocoris apterus (L.), collected from 3 colonies of this species, show that 15.7-29.7% (mean 21.4 %) of them were infested with H. adleri. The firebugs were infested usually with all developmental stages of the parasite, i.e. from eggs to adults (males and/or females). The mites were located mainly on the anterior part of the abdomen, on the surface of tergites under the insect’s wings. From 1 to 56 (mean 4.8) mites were found on one host specimen. Juvenile stages of host insects were free of mites. Original results of field observations and preliminary examination of firebugs from other regions of Poland (6 localities) and Lithuania (3 localities) suggest that this mite species may be a common parasite of firebugs in this part of Europe.