| abstract | Adult males and females of a new genus, Xanthippe gen. nov., and two new species of the tribe Melicharini, family Ascidae, are described. These mites apparently feed on pollen or nectar in inflorescences of a palm, Socratea exorrhiza (Mart.) H. A. Wendl., and possibly have a phoretic association with beetles of the genus Mystrops Erichson (Nitidulidae), the major pollinators of this plant |