Histiostomatids on common Dermaptera in Japan

Abstract

In 2013, phoresy of Histiostoma mahunkai Fain, 1974, on the Japanese common earwig, Anisolabella (Gonolabis) marginalis (Dohrn, 1864), was recorded in Ibaraki Prefecture, central Japan. To investigate the extent of this phenomenon, I studied A. marginalis and Anisolabis maritima (Bonelli, 1832) collected in Kochi (Kochi Pref.), Matsue (Shimane Pref.), Yonago (Tottori Pref.), Echizen (Fukui Pref.), Shizuoka (Shizuoka Pref.), Misato and Iwatsuki (Saitama Pref.), and Mito (Ibaraki Pref.). Phoretic histiostomatids were isolated, reared, and identified as H. mahunkai and H. piscium.