MEGISTHANIDAE Berlese, 1914

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00222933.2024.2373490
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13773889
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03AB87D9-6B1C-FFEB-26E8-CC73C1D997A9
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	MEGISTHANIDAE Berlese, 1914
status

This family contains 26 species in one genus. Fifteen megisthanid species have been found on Passalidae , of which 10 megisthanid species were collected from 16 host species belonging to 9 genera. Five species were collected from undetermined Passalidae ( Wharton 1926; Womersley 1937; Hunter and Costa 1970; Karg 1997; Barrios-Torres and Villegas-Guzmán 2015; Seeman 2017, 2019). Most species were collected from Mastachilus australasicus (3) and the largest number of hosts was found for M. thorelli Womersley, 1937 (4) and M. modestus Berlese, 1910 (3). Seven species were collected from only one host species. On three species of Passalidae only Megisthanidae were collected: Megisthanus berlesei Hunter and Costa, 1970 and M. remilleti Hunter and Costa, 1970 on Erionomus sp. ; M. jacobsoni Wharton, 1926 on Pelopides burmeisteri ; M. modestus on Pharochilus rugiceps (Hope and Westwood, 1845) ( Tables 2–6 View Table 2 View Table 3 and 12).