Odonate-parasite
Guides
Arrenurus
water mites
Arrenurus is the largest genus of water mites, comprising approximately 950 species with cosmopolitan distribution in lentic freshwater habitats. Adults are heavily sclerotized, predatory, and exhibit marked sexual dimorphism—males possess diagnostic caudal modifications used in mating, while female taxonomy remains problematic. The life cycle includes seven stages: egg, inactive prelarva, parasitic larva, protonymph, deutonymph, tritonymph, and adult. Larvae are ectoparasites of aquatic insects, particularly Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), but also Diptera and Coleoptera, utilizing hosts for both nutrition and phoretic dispersal.
Arrenurus problecornis
Arrenurus problecornis is a species of water mite (family Arrenuridae) described by Cook in 1976. Like other members of the genus Arrenurus, it is part of the subgenus Arrenurus, which is characterized by parasitic larvae that attach to odonate hosts (dragonflies and damselflies). The species belongs to the diverse radiation of water mites (Hydrachnidia), a group comprising over 6,000 species of predatory freshwater arachnids with complex life histories involving parasitic larval stages and free-living predatory adults.