DIVERSITY OF SYNANTHROPIC MITES IN KOLKAT A METROPOLIS , INDIA

The synanthropic mites are those which regularly inhabit human settlements and human constructions where they form permanent or intermittent, independent or semi independent popUlation (Kucheruk, 1965 and Rosicky, 199]). The group chiefly consisting of mite fauna inhabiting house dust (floor dust and bed dust), stored product, house hold storages and granaries, bird's nest, cattle sheds and those occuring in roof gardens. The dust mites are of great concern to human health as they are directly responsible for causing nasobronchial allergic disorders 1 ike allergic rhinitis, eczema, bronchial asthma etc. Stored product mites are important as nlajority of those directly feed upon the grain contents or on food staffs making those unsuitable for human consumption or make those unmarketable. Some of the mites inhabiting cattle sheds cause nuisance and are of great veterinary importance. The nest associated mites may act as vectors of some viral diseases while roof garden mites cause damage to ornamental plants.


INTRODUCTION
The synanthropic mites are those which regularly inhabit human settlements and human constructions where they form permanent or intermittent, independent or semi independent popUlation (Kucheruk, 1965 and Rosicky, 199]).The group chiefly consisting of mite fauna inhabiting house dust (floor dust and bed dust), stored product, house hold storages and granaries, bird's nest, cattle sheds and those occuring in roof gardens.The dust mites are of great concern to human health as they are directly responsible for causing nasobronchial allergic disorders 1 ike allergic rhinitis, eczema, bronchial asthma etc. Stored product mites are important as nlajority of those directly feed upon the grain contents or on food staffs making those unsuitable for human consumption or make those unmarketable.Some of the mites inhabiting cattle sheds cause nuisance and are of great veterinary importance.The nest associated mites may act as vectors of some viral diseases while roof garden mites cause damage to ornamental plants.
Despite the manifold importance of synanthropic mites, no holistic approach has so far been made in India to explore these mites, though, of course, efforts were made by a number of workers to study separately either the house dust mites (Saha, 1994(Saha, , 1997;;Saha et al., 1995;Modak et al., 1991Modak et al., , 2004) ) or nest mites (Gupta and Paul, 1989;Bhattacharya, 1995) or stored product nlites (Nangia and Channa Basvanna 1989;Putatunda et al., 1999;Gupta and Chatterjee 2004)

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The methodologies which were adopted in this study for collecting synanthropic mites from five different habitats associated with human dwelIings like house dust, stored products, bird nests, cattle sheds and roof gardens in Kolkata metropolis and adjoining areas during the period from July, 2001 to December, 2003 are as below: Dust nlites : The dust samples from bed and bedroom floor were collected periodically by dusting the mattresses, bed linens and pillows on clean sheets of newspaper and by sweeping the floor.The dust samples were directly examined under stereobinocular microscope and mites were picked up by a fine sable hair brush moistened with 70% alcohol.
Storage nzites : Samples of stored grains (wheat, rice, pulses), bakery products (biscuits, breads crump, cakes), other food stuff stored in houses (sujii, potato chips, puffed rice, pressed rice, papad, etc.) were brought to the laboratory and examined under stereobinocular microscope.Mites were picked up by fine sable hair brush moistened with alcohol.
Cattle shed 1nites : The debris of cattle sheds, hay, dry dung, cattle food etc. were examined for mites and collection was made by subjecting those to heat desiccation method in Tullgren Funnel Apparatus using 40 w electric bulb as heat and light source.The mites were collected in the collecting vial containing 700/0 alcohol fitted with the stem of the funnel.
Birds nest I1zites : Four nests of birds one each of Baya (Plocells nlanyar flaviceps) and Bulbul (Pycllonotlls cafer) and two of Crow (Corvus splendens) which were constructed inside buildings were brought to the laboratory and were subjected to heat treatment in Tullgren Funnel Apparatus as described earlier.
Roof garden 111ites : Leaves from ornamental plants viz.rose, dahlia, china rose, chrysanthemum etc. which were maintained in roof gardens were plucked, brought to the laboratory in polythene bags, examined under stereo binocular microscope and mites were picked up with moistened sable hair brush.
Temporary mounting was done in lactic acid on microslide covered with broken piece of cover slip and then heated gently over an electric bulb (40 w) for clearing and stretching of appendages.
For pennanent mounting in all cases, Heinze's medium was used.Taxonomic identification was done under a good research microscope and, wherever necessary, illustrations of body parts of taxonomic importance were prepared.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The identification of all the groups of mites revealed the occurrence of 88 species belonging to 56 genera and 25 families under 3 orders as given in Table l.Among those, ten species marked with asterisks and six genera marked with double asterisks are reported here for the first time from India.Regarding faunal composition, the maximum taxal diversity and density were seen in cattle shed, wherefrom 52 species (57%) belonging to 34 genera and 18 families under 3 orders could be recorded.This was followed by house dust (25 species (28%) under 13 genera, 6 families and 3 orders), stored products (20 species (23%) belonging to 12 genera, 8 families and 3 orders), bird nests (18 species (20%) belonging to 13 genera, 9 families and 3 orders) and roof gardens (14 species (16%) under 12 genera, 9 families and 3 orders).
So far as novelty with regard to genus is concerned, six genera viz.Leioseius, Trematura, Protodinychus, Pulaeus, Resinacarus and Siteroptes could be recorded which were hitherto unreported from India.Ten species, viz.Blomia tropicalis (from house dust, stored product and cattle shed), B. tijiboda (house, dust and stored product), B. kulagini (house dust and stored product), Lasioseius americanus (house dust, nest and cattle shed), L. phytoseioides (cattle shed), L. ometus (nest and cattle shed), Proctolaelaps scolyti (cattle shed), P. pygmaeus (cattle shed), Uroseius acuminatus (cattle shed) and Eugamasus butleri (cattle shed) were new records from India.None could be recorded from all the five habitats, however, 4 species, viz.Glycyphagus omatus, Glycyphagus sp., Austroglycyphagus geniculatus and Lasioseius sp. were recorded from four out of five habitats studied.There were 63 species (73%) which could be recorded only from a single habitat, of those the cattle shed harboured the maximum number of such species 34 (39%) followed by house dust 11 (13%), roof garden 10 (11 %), stored products and bird nest 4 each (5%).Among the ten species recorded here for the first time from India, 8 were from cattle shed, 3 from stored products, 4 from house dust and 2 from bird nests.It may be noted that out of these ten species, there were 5 species which were found in more than one habitats, though in different combinations.
Among the orders, Prostigmata is represented by the maximum number of species, families and genera (39 species, 12 families, 25 genera) followed by Mesostigmata (32 species, 9 families, 20 genera) and Astigmata (17 species, 4 families, 11 genera).Although several specimens of Cryptostigmata were in the collection, their identification is still not complete and will be reported later in the subsequent papers.
Surprisingly, some of the other common house dust mites like Chortoglyphidae, Pyemotidae, Tydeidae, Bdellidae, Raphignathidae, Scutacaridae, Tarsonemidae, Anoetidae, etc. which were earlier recorded from India, could not be encountered so far in the present study.Among the 25 species of house dust mites recorded in this study, the relative number of Astigmata mites was more (13 spp.) followed by Prostigmata (9 spp.) and Mesostigmata (3 spp.).

Stored product mites:
A total of 20 species of mites were collected from various stored products, of which, Hirstia domicola, Pronelnatus elongates, P. bengalensis and Raphignathus sp. are recorded here for the first time in India from stored products.In some of the samples examined, the acarids were found in astronomical numbers specially on potato chips, rice, wheat etc. doing considerable damage.The glycypnagids were mostly fungal feeders while Cheyletidae and Ascidae were main" predators of acarid mites.Astigmata represented the highest number of species (13 spp.) followed by Prostigmata (4 spp.) and Mesostigmata (3 spp.).
Nest mites: Among the 18 species recorded from nests, the occurrence of Suidasia medanensis, Hypoaspis vacua, Cunaxa ~vonlersleyi, Pronematus elongates, Lasioseius mcgregori, L. ometus, L. americanus and Macrocheles indicus were earlier not known in India from bird nests.The occurrence of Macrochelidae in nest can be explained by the fact that these mites entered into the nests through flies, on whose body the macrochelids attached themselves for dispersal.The other mites like Tydeidae, Cunaxidae, which are common predators of Psoccid insects were available abundantly in nests.The sole species of Laelapidae occurred in nest is an ectoparasitic species and got detached from bird's body while fluttering the wings.Since only four nests could be examined in the present study, many of the other groups of mites earlier recorded in India (Gupta and Paul 1989;Bhattacharya 1995) could not be collected.The number of species of different orders as was seen in this study was Astigmata (4 spp.), Prostigmata (6 spp.) and Mesostigmata (8 spp.) indicating dominance of Mesostigmata in the habitat.
Cattle shed mites : Out of 52 species recorded from cattle sheds, the occurrence of the Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, D. farinae, Austroglycyphagus geniculatus appear to be unknown from cattle sheds in the world.The occurrence of most of the other species belonging to family Tydeidae, Cunaxidae, Pyroglyphidae, Glycyphagidae, Ascidae, Parasitidae, Ameroseiidae and Phytoseiidae recorded here were earlier not known in this habitat from India.The dominant groups were Ascidae, Laelapidae, Uropodidae and Macrocheledae.Some of these mites viz.Uropodidae and Macrocheledae are common inhabitants of dung; Laelapidae are parasitic group while Ascidae occur in cosmopolitan habitats.The occurrence of other mites like Tydeidae, Cunaxidae etc. are accidental and entered in cattle sheds through fodder and hay.The number of species represented by 3 different orders viz.Prostigmata, Astigmata and Mesostigmata were 17, 6 and 29 respectively, indicating the abundance of Mesostigmatid mites in this habitat.

SUMMARY
This paper reports the occurrence of 88 species of mites belonging to 56 genera and 25 families under 3 orders from five different habitats inside human settlements, viz.house dust, stored products, bird's nest, cattle sheds and roof gardens, discusses their relative abundance, nature of association and provides information as to their novelty, if any, regarding their occurrence in five selected habitats in relation to West Bengal and India.Ten species and six genera are reported first time from India.The present study further indicates that among five different habitats examined, taxal diversity and relative abundance of different mites species were higher in cattle sheds followed by house dust and stored products.
. The present work was undertaken to explore the diversity of synanthropic nlites from Kolkata metropolis and adjoining areas.*Corresponding Author: Dr. G. K. Saha, Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata-700 019.

Table 1 .
: List of synathropic mite species distributed in five different habitats in Kolkata metropolis.
+ HD = House dust; SP = Stored product; BN = Bird nest; CS = Cattle shed; RG = Roof garden.* New species reported from India.** New genera reported from India.