DOI: 10.5061/dryad.0cfxpnw6n
title: Data from: Body size-dependent effects on the distribution patterns of phoretic mite species assemblages on Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790)

description: Phoretic mites attach to different body parts of the red palm weevil
 (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790), to disperse. However,
 the question of how the patterns of attachment sites are formed remains
 intriguing. Here, we examined RPW-associated phoretic mites in four
 districts in Northern Portugal (macrohabitat), and investigated the
 patterns of mite distribution on six body parts of RPW (microhabitat). At
 the macrohabitat level, we detected seven phoretic mite taxa using the RPW
 host in each of the four studied districts, all documented for the first
 time in association with this invasive exotic species in Portugal.
 However, their relative abundance (species evenness) varied between
 districts, as did species diversity. All examined weevils carried mites,
 and the prevalence of the different taxa did not differ between districts
 or sex of weevils. Measured by mean abundance and degree of aggregation,
 Centrouropoda sp. proved to be the dominant taxon, while Acarus sp. and
 Curculanoetus rhynchophorus were considered common subordinate taxa and
 Uroovobella sp., Mesostigmata, Nenteria extremica and Dendrolaelaps sp.
 sparse taxa. At the microhabitat level, all taxa were present on all body
 parts of the RPW; the highest abundance was in a region encompassing the
 inner surface of the elytra and the membranous hind wings (subelytral
 space). Analysis of niche overlap revealed that the distribution patterns
 of phoretic mite taxa on the RPW were not randomly structured. In the
 subelytral space, interspecific coexistence of mites increased as a
 function of body size difference with the dominant Centrouropoda sp. We
 found that in the subelytral space the large dominant species
 Centrouropoda sp. displaced the larger species Uroobovella sp. and the
 similarly sized species Nenteria extremica, but coexisted with smaller
 taxa.
description: Samples were from eight sites in the Northern Portugal districts
 of Viana do Castelo, Braga, Porto and Aveiro. The name and geographical
 localisation of these eight sites are as follows: Moledo do Minho
 (41.847698, -8.864375) in Viana do Castelo; Famalicão (41.361287,
 -8.539348) in Braga; Marquês (41.161283, -8.604427), Porto Botanical
 Garden (41.153008, -8.642730) and Foz do Douro (41.147716, -8.670845) in
 Porto; Esmoriz (40.955908, -8.650886), Barra Beach (40.632630, -8.748307)
 and Santiago Campus - University of Aveiro (40.635053, -8.659500) in
 Aveiro. The captured weevils were transported to the laboratory in plastic
 containers and fed with apple slices. The specimens were then stored in
 the refrigerator at 8 degrees Celcius until dissection. The
 cold-anaesthetised weevils were separated by sex and dissected
 individually under a stereomicroscope. Phoretic mites were counted on six
 body parts of the weevils, i.e. neck, head-antenna, thorax, legs, ventral
 surface (abdominal sterna), and subelytral space (membranous hind wings +
 inner elytra surface), then removed with a camel hair brush and preserved
 in 70% ethanol. For identification, selected specimens of each observed
 mite morphotype were mounted on microscopic slides in lactic acid (90%
 solution in water) (Helle & Sabelis, 1985) and examined with an
 Axiophot microscope (Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany) connected to a
 computer running Leica Application Suite X (LAS X) image processing
 software. Mites were identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level
 based on the original descriptions and illustrations in which these taxa
 were first described (McGraw & Farrier, 1969; Griffiths, 1970;
 Fain, 1974; Lindquist, 1975; Kinn, 1984; Wisniewski et al., 1992; Krantz
 & Walter, 2009; Porcelli et al., 2009; Farahani et al., 2016;
 Abo-Shnaf & Allam, 2019) and the length of their ventral idiosoma
 measured. References<br>McGraw, J. R., &
 Farrier, M. H. (1969). Mites of the superfamily Parasitoidea (Acarina517
 Mesostigmata) associated with Dendroctonus and Ips (Coleoptera:
 Scolytidae). Technical Bulletin. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment
 Station (192).<br>Griffiths, D. A. (1970). A further systematic
 study of the genus Acarus L., 1758 (Acaridae, Acarina), with a key to
 species. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natur History Zoology), 85 -
 118.<br>Fain, A. (1974). Notes sur quelques hypopes
 d'Anoetidae. Bulletin et annales de la Société royale belge
 d'entomologie, 110, 58 - 68.<br>Lindquist, E. E. (1975).
 Digamasellus Berlese, 1905, and Dendrolaelaps Halbert, 1915, with
 descriptions of new taxa of Digamasellidae (Acarina: Mesostigmata). The
 Canadian<br>508 Entomologist, 107(1), 1-43.<br>Kinn, D. N.
 (1984). Life cycle of Dendrolaelaps neodisetus (Mesostigmata:
 Digamasellidae), a nematophagous mite associated with pine bark beetles
 (Coleoptera: Scolytidae). Environmental Entomology, 13(4), 1141-1144.
 https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/13.4.1141<br>Wisniewski, J., Hirschmann,
 W., & Hiramatsu, N. (1992). New species of Centrouropoda
 (Uroactiniinae, Uropodina) from Philippines, Brazil and Middle Africa.
 Acarologia, 33(4), 313- 320.<br>Krantz, G. W., & Walter, D.
 E. (2009). A Manual of Acarology (Third Edition ed.): Texas Tech
 University Press<br>Porcelli, F., Ragusa, E., D’Onghia, A. M.,
 Mizzi, S., & Mifsud, D. (2009). Occurrence of Centrouropoda
 almerodai and Uroobovella marginata (Acari: Uropodina) phoretic on the Red
 Palm Weevil in Malta. Bulletin of the Entomological Society of Malta, 2,
 61-66.<br>Farahani, V. R. F., Ahadiyat, A., Mašán, P., &
 Dehvari, M. A. (2016). Phoretic uropodine mites (Acari: Mesostigmata)
 associated with the red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus
 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Iran. Journal of Entomological and
 Acarological Research, 48, 5853.<br>Abo-Shnaf, R. I., &
 Allam, S. F. (2019). A new species of Centrouropoda (Acari: Uropodidae:
 Uropodina), with a key to the world species of the genus. Zootaxa,
 4706(4), zootaxa. 4706.4704. 4701-zootaxa. 4706.4704. 4701.
description: This readme file was generated on [2023-07-03] by [CAMILO AYRA-PARDO]
 GENERAL INFORMATION Title of Dataset: Data from: Body size-dependent
 effects on the distribution patterns of phoretic mite species assemblages
 on Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790) Author/Principal Investigator
 Information Name: CAMILO AYRA-PARDO ORCID: 0000-0001-5579-677X
 Institution: CIIMAR - Interdisciplinary Center of Marine and Environmental
 Research, University of Porto Address: Terminal de Cruzeiros do Porto de
 Leixes, Avda. General Norton de Matos s/n, 4450-208, Matosinhos, Portugal
 Email: Author/Associate or Co-investigator
 Information Name: Ins Matos ORCID: 0000-0001-7024-2599 Institution: CIIMAR
 - Interdisciplinary Center of Marine and Environmental Research,
 University of Porto Address: Terminal de Cruzeiros do Porto de Leixes,
 Avda. General Norton de Matos s/n, 4450-208, Matosinhos, Portugal Email:
 Author/Associate or Co-investigator
 Information Name: Luis Filipe Rangel ORCID: 0000-0002-8503-7763
 Institution: CIIMAR - Interdisciplinary Center of Marine and Environmental
 Research, University of Porto Address: Terminal de Cruzeiros do Porto de
 Leixes, Avda. General Norton de Matos s/n, 4450-208, Matosinhos, Portugal
 Email: Author/Associate or
 Co-investigator Information Name: MARIA JOAO SANTOS ORCID:
 0000-0001-6655-491X Institution: CIIMAR - Interdisciplinary Center of
 Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto Address: Terminal
 de Cruzeiros do Porto de Leixes, Avda. General Norton de Matos s/n,
 4450-208, Matosinhos, Portugal Email: 
 Author/Alternate Contact Information Name: MARIA JOAO SANTOS ORCID:
 0000-0001-6655-491X Institution: CIIMAR - Biology Department, Faculty of
 Sciences, University of Porto Address: FC4, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n,
 4169-007, Porto, Portugal Email: Date of data
 collection: From 2021-07-01 to 2022-03-31 Geographic location of data
 collection: Samples were from eight sites in the Northern Portugal
 districts of Viana do Castelo, Braga, Porto and Aveiro. The name and
 geographical localisation of these eight sites are as follows: Moledo do
 Minho (41.847698, -8.864375) in Viana do Castelo; Famalico (41.361287,
 -8.539348) in Braga; Marqus (41.161283, -8.604427), Porto Botanical Garden
 (41.153008, -8.642730) and Foz do Douro (41.147716, -8.670845) in Porto;
 Esmoriz (40.955908, -8.650886), Barra Beach (40.632630, -8.748307) and
 Santiago Campus - University of Aveiro (40.635053, -8.659500) in Aveiro.
 Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the
 data: This work has received financial support from the Portuguese
 national funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology within
 the scope of PTDC/BIA-BMA/6363/2020, UIDB/04423/2020 442, UIDP/04423/2020,
 UIDP/50017/2020, UIDB/50017/2020, LA/P/0094/2020, by an FCT employment
 contract CEECIND/03501/2017 (to L.F.R.) and research fellowships
 PTDCASPPLA62282020-BI_LIC_2021_019 and 2022_083_BI_ASP-PLA (to I. M.).
 O.M.C.C.A. is funded by national funds (OE), through FCT, in the scope of
 the framework contract foreseen in the numbers 4, 5 and 6 of the article
 23, of the Decree-Law 57/2016, of August 29, changed by Law 57/2017, of
 July 19. SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION Licenses/restrictions placed on the
 data: not available Links to publications that cite or use the data: *
 AUTHOREA (); *
 bioRxiv (); * A
 manuscript written for the interpretation of the dataset was just accepted
 in Ecology and Evolution on 2023-06-29 Links to other publicly accessible
 locations of the data: Not available Links/relationships to ancillary data
 sets: Not available Was data derived from another source? NO If yes, list
 source(s): Recommended citation for this dataset: Matos, Ins; Rangel, Luis
 Filipe; Santos, Maria Joo; Ayra-Pardo, Camilo (2023), Data from: Body
 size-dependent effects on the distribution patterns of phoretic mite
 species assemblages on Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790), Dryad,
 Dataset, DATA & FILE OVERVIEW File List: Raw Data_Distribution
 Patterns and Body Size in RPW Mites.xlsx This Excel file contains a table
 with a dataset of 238 adult red palm weevils collected in the districts of
 Viana do Castelo, Braga, Porto and Aveiro in the region of Northern
 Portugal. It contains information on the sex, weight and length of the
 weevils, the date of collection and the abundance of seven different mite
 species (i.e. Centrouropoda sp., Nenteria extremica, Acarus sp.,
 Dendrolaelaps sp., Mesostigmata, Uroobovella, and Curculanoetus
 rhynchophorus) on six body parts of the weevil, such as head-antenna,
 neck, legs, thorax, wings-elytra, and abdominal sterna. Relationship
 between files, if important: Not available Additional related data
 collected that was not included in the current data package: not available
 Are there multiple versions of the dataset? NO If yes, name of file(s)
 that was updated: Why was the file updated? When was the file updated?
 METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION Description of methods used for
 collection/generation of data: The captured weevils were transported to
 the laboratory in plastic containers and fed with apple slices. The
 specimens were then stored in the refrigerator at 8 degrees Celcius until
 dissection. The cold-anaesthetised weevils were separated by sex and
 dissected individually under a stereomicroscope. Phoretic mites were
 counted on six body parts of the weevils, i.e. neck, head-antenna, thorax,
 legs, ventral surface (abdominal sterna), and subelytral space (membranous
 hind wings + inner elytra surface), then removed with a camel hair brush
 and preserved in 70% ethanol. For identification, selected specimens of
 each observed mite morphotype were mounted on microscopic slides in lactic
 acid (90% solution in water) (Helle & Sabelis, 1985) and examined with
 an Axiophot microscope (Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany) connected to a
 computer running Leica Application Suite X (LAS X) image processing
 software. Mites were identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level
 based on the original descriptions and illustrations in which these taxa
 were first described (McGraw & Farrier, 1969; Griffiths, 1970; Fain,
 1974; Lindquist, 1975; Kinn, 1984; Wisniewski et al., 1992; Krantz &
 Walter, 2009; Porcelli et al., 2009; Farahani et al., 2016; Abo-Shnaf
 & Allam, 2019) and the length of their ventral idiosoma measured.
 References McGraw, J. R., & Farrier, M. H. (1969). Mites of the
 superfamily Parasitoidea (Acarina517 Mesostigmata) associated with
 Dendroctonus and Ips (Coleoptera: Scolytidae). Technical Bulletin. North
 Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station (192). Griffiths, D. A. (1970). A
 further systematic study of the genus Acarus L., 1758 (Acaridae, Acarina),
 with a key to species. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natur History
 Zoology), 85 - 118. Fain, A. (1974). Notes sur quelques hypopes
 d'Anoetidae. Bulletin et annales de la Socit royale belge
 d'entomologie, 110, 58 - 68. Lindquist, E. E. (1975). Digamasellus
 Berlese, 1905, and Dendrolaelaps Halbert, 1915, with descriptions of new
 taxa of Digamasellidae (Acarina: Mesostigmata). The Canadian 508
 Entomologist, 107(1), 1-43. Kinn, D. N. (1984). Life cycle of
 Dendrolaelaps neodisetus (Mesostigmata: Digamasellidae), a nematophagous
 mite associated with pine bark beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytidae).
 Environmental Entomology, 13(4), 1141-1144.
 Wisniewski, J., Hirschmann,
 W., & Hiramatsu, N. (1992). New species of Centrouropoda
 (Uroactiniinae, Uropodina) from Philippines, Brazil and Middle Africa.
 Acarologia, 33(4), 313- 320. Krantz, G. W., & Walter, D. E. (2009). A
 Manual of Acarology (Third Edition ed.): Texas Tech University Press
 Porcelli, F., Ragusa, E., DOnghia, A. M., Mizzi, S., & Mifsud, D.
 (2009). Occurrence of Centrouropoda almerodai and Uroobovella marginata
 (Acari: Uropodina) phoretic on the Red Palm Weevil in Malta. Bulletin of
 the Entomological Society of Malta, 2, 61-66. Farahani, V. R. F.,
 Ahadiyat, A., Man, P., & Dehvari, M. A. (2016). Phoretic uropodine
 mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) associated with the red palm weevil,
 Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Iran. Journal of
 Entomological and Acarological Research, 48, 5853. Abo-Shnaf, R. I., &
 Allam, S. F. (2019). A new species of Centrouropoda (Acari: Uropodidae:
 Uropodina), with a key to the world species of the genus. Zootaxa,
 4706(4), zootaxa. 4706.4704. 4701-zootaxa. 4706.4704. 4701. Methods for
 processing the data: The submitted dataset contains all the information
 from the raw or collected data Instrument- or software-specific
 information needed to interpret the data: Microsoft Excel Standards and
 calibration information, if appropriate: Not available
 Environmental/experimental conditions: Not available Describe any
 quality-assurance procedures performed on the data: Not available People
 involved with sample collection, processing, analysis and/or submission:
 Ins Matos; Diogo Silva; Joo Oliveira; Cladia Gonalves; Rita Alves; Nuno
 Pereira; Francisco Catarino; Olga M. C. C. Ameixa; Jos Amrico Sousa; Luis
 Filipe Rangel; Maria Joo Santos; and Camilo Ayra-Pardo DATA-SPECIFIC
 INFORMATION FOR: [Raw Data_Distribution Patterns and Body Size in Red Palm
 Weevil Mites.xlsx] Number of variables: 64 Number of cases/rows: 238 (each
 weevil) Variable List: Code - A unique identified code used to identify
 one specific individual Item # - Number of the item in the list Assemblage
 - District where the red palm weevil was collected among Viana do Castelo,
 Braga, Porto and Aveiro red palm weevil's date of collection - Date
 of collection of the weevil red palm weevil's sex (F/M) - Sex of the
 weevil between Female and Male red palm weevil's weight (g) - weight
 of the weevil red palm weevil's length (cm) - Lenght of the weevil in
 centimeters All body (numbers for the whole weevil) number of taxa - total
 number of mite species identified for each weevil (rows) Centrouropoda sp.
 - total number of this particular species for each weevil (rows) Nenteria
 extremica - total number of this particular species for each weevil (rows)
 Acarus sp. - total number of this particular species for each weevil
 (rows) Dendrolaelaps sp.- total number of this particular species for each
 weevil (rows) Mesostigmata - total number of this particular species for
 each weevil (rows) Uroobovella sp. - total number of this particular
 species for each weevil (rows) Curculanoetus rhynchophorus - total number
 of this particular species for each weevil (rows) Head + Antenna (numbers
 for this body part of the weevil) number of taxa - total number of mite
 species in this body part identified for each weevil (rows) Centrouropoda
 sp. - total number of this particular species in this body part identified
 for each weevil (rows) Nenteria extremica - total number of this
 particular species in this body part identified for each weevil (rows)
 Acarus sp. - total number of this particular species in this body part
 identified for each weevil (rows) Dendrolaelaps sp. - total number of this
 particular species in this body part identified for each weevil (rows)
 Mesostigmata - total number of this particular species in this body part
 identified for each weevil (rows) Uroobovella sp. - total number of this
 particular species in this body part identified for each weevil (rows)
 Curculanoetus rhynchophorus - total number of this particular species in
 this body part identified for each weevil (rows) Neck (numbers for this
 body part of the weevil) number of taxa - total number of mite species in
 this body part identified for each weevil (rows) Centrouropoda sp. - total
 number of this particular species in this body part identified for each
 weevil (rows) Nenteria extremica - total number of this particular species
 in this body part identified for each weevil (rows) Acarus sp. - total
 number of this particular species in this body part identified for each
 weevil (rows) Dendrolaelaps sp. - total number of this particular species
 in this body part identified for each weevil (rows) Mesostigmata - total
 number of this particular species in this body part identified for each
 weevil (rows) Uroobovella sp. - total number of this particular species in
 this body part identified for each weevil (rows) Curculanoetus
 rhynchophorus - total number of this particular species in this body part
 identified for each weevil (rows) Legs (numbers for this body part of the
 weevil) number of taxa - total number of mite species in this body part
 identified for each weevil (rows) Centrouropoda sp. - total number of this
 particular species in this body part identified for each weevil (rows)
 Nenteria extremica - total number of this particular species in this body
 part identified for each weevil (rows) Acarus sp. - total number of this
 particular species in this body part identified for each weevil (rows)
 Dendrolaelaps sp. - total number of this particular species in this body
 part identified for each weevil (rows) Mesostigmata - total number of this
 particular species in this body part identified for each weevil (rows)
 Uroobovella sp. - total number of this particular species in this body
 part identified for each weevil (rows) Curculanoetus rhynchophorus - total
 number of this particular species in this body part identified for each
 weevil (rows) Thorax (numbers for this body part of the weevil) number of
 taxa - total number of mite species in this body part identified for each
 weevil (rows) Centrouropoda sp. - total number of this particular species
 in this body part identified for each weevil (rows) Nenteria extremica -
 total number of this particular species in this body part identified for
 each weevil (rows) Acarus sp. - total number of this particular species in
 this body part identified for each weevil (rows) Dendrolaelaps sp. - total
 number of this particular species in this body part identified for each
 weevil (rows) Mesostigmata - total number of this particular species in
 this body part identified for each weevil (rows) Uroobovella sp. - total
 number of this particular species in this body part identified for each
 weevil (rows) Curculanoetus rhynchophorus - total number of this
 particular species in this body part identified for each weevil (rows)
 Wings and Elytra (numbers for this body part of the weevil) number of taxa
 - total number of mite species in this body part identified for each
 weevil (rows) Centrouropoda sp. - total number of this particular species
 in this body part identified for each weevil (rows) Nenteria extremica -
 total number of this particular species in this body part identified for
 each weevil (rows) Acarus sp. - total number of this particular species in
 this body part identified for each weevil (rows) Dendrolaelaps sp. - total
 number of this particular species in this body part identified for each
 weevil (rows) Mesostigmata - total number of this particular species in
 this body part identified for each weevil (rows) Uroobovella sp. - total
 number of this particular species in this body part identified for each
 weevil (rows) Curculanoetus rhynchophorus - total number of this
 particular species in this body part identified for each weevil (rows)
 Ventra surface or abdominal sterna (numbers for this body part of the
 weevil) number of taxa - total number of mite species in this body part
 identified for each weevil (rows) Centrouropoda sp. - total number of this
 particular species in this body part identified for each weevil (rows)
 Nenteria extremica - total number of this particular species in this body
 part identified for each weevil (rows) Acarus sp. - total number of this
 particular species in this body part identified for each weevil (rows)
 Dendrolaelaps sp. - total number of this particular species in this body
 part identified for each weevil (rows) Mesostigmata - total number of this
 particular species in this body part identified for each weevil (rows)
 Uroobovella sp. - total number of this particular species in this body
 part identified for each weevil (rows) Curculanoetus rhynchophorus - total
 number of this particular species in this body part identified for each
 weevil (rows) Missing data codes: n/a, Not available Specialized formats
 or other abbreviations used: Not available