Macrocheles nataliae Bregetova and Koroleva, 1960

Ács, A., Sutak, A. & Kontschan, J., 2016, New records of macrochelid mites and description of a new phoretic species (Acari: Mesostigmata: Macrochelidae) from Greece, Acarologia 56 (1), pp. 63-71 : 64-65

Macrocheles nataliae Bregetova and Koroleva, 1960

Material examined — Three females were collected on Scarabaeus sacer Linnaeus, 1758 , Greece, Thrace , Rhodope peripheral unit, Sapka Mts , Nea Sanda , river and rocky forest, E of the village, 225 m a.s.l., 41°06.928’N 25°49.686’E, 26 May 2012., KontschAEn, J., MurAEnyi, D. and Szederjesi, T. coll. Another three phoretic females were found on Oryctes nasicornis ( Linnaeus, 1758) , Greece, Epirus, Preveza peripheral unit, Ano Kotsanopoulo , garden of a cafe bar along the road towards Louros, W of the village, 130 m a.s.l., 39°13.026’N 20°42.823’E, 05 May 2011. KontschAEn, J., MurAEnyi, D., Szederjesi, T. and UjvAEri, Zs. coll.

Published records — Asia, Belgium, British Isles, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Slovakia ( MašAEn 2003); China ( Lin and Zhang 2010); Latvia ( Salmane 2001); Iran ( Kazemi and Rajaei 2013).

Distribution — Palaearctic.

Remarks — M. nataliae is necrophilous detriticole that lives in decaying substrates and also is phoretic on various beetles, comprise the necrophilous ( Gorb 2007; MašAEn 2003). The collected specimens were phoretic on Scarabaeus sacer and Oryctes nasicornis beetles in Greece. This is the first record from Greece.