On the chigger mite (Acariformes: Trombiculidae) fauna of Ethiopia

Antonovskaia A.A., Lushchekina A.A., Lavrenchenko L.A., Stekolnikov A.A.

International Journal of Acarology, 50(1): 53-67 (2023/2024)

S U M M A R Y

The chigger mites of Ethiopia were investigated based on materials collected in the field and museum depositories of alcohol-fixed mammals. Previously, only two chigger species were known from the country. In total, we collected 21 chigger species, mainly from rodents, occasionally insectivores, and one bat, from nine localities, and raised the number of trombiculids known from Ethiopia to 22. Three new species were described: Gahrliepia bochkovi sp. n. from a high-mountain locality of the Arsi Mountains National Park, Schoutedenichia borenensis sp. n. from Borena National Park, and Microtrombicula abaturovi sp. n. from Lake Koka located in the Great Rift Valley. Seventeen species were recorded in Ethiopia for the first time; four of them were for the first time recorded on the African continent – Leptotrombidium paradux Vercammen-Grandjean and Langston, 1976, Schoutedenichia asirensis Stekolnikov, Al-Ghamdi, Alagaili and Makepeace, 2019, S. originalis Kudryashova, 1976, and Microtrombicula saperoi (Radford, 1954).