Attachment and Feeding Devices of Water‐Mite Larvae [Arrenurus spp.) Parasitic on Damselflies (Odonata, Zygoptera)

Water‐mite larvae of the subgenus Arrenurus (Acari, Hydrachnellae) act as habitual ectoparasites on zygopteran imagines, mostly attached to the soft membranous cuticle. The powerful larval pedipalp claws grasp the cuticle and the distal sabre‐like cheliceral segments tear it, thus obtaining the host's tissue fluids. The chelicerae and palps co‐operate to anchor the larva. The attached larva soon produces—in the host's subcuticular epidermis...