| abstract | In connection with studies on Scrub Typhus in Malaya, North Burma, and India, 9 species of chiggers of the subgenus Schöngastiella have been collected. Of these, 7 are new and are described and illustrated in detail. The commonest species found in Assam and North Burma is Gahrliepia (Schöngastiella) ligula (Radford). This is a characteristic parasite of Rattus in scrub terrain, although at times occuring on a variety of rodents, insectivores and carnivores. It was rarely collected in or near primary jungle. Gahrlipia (Schöngastiella) punctata (Radford) was collected from t0 small mammals in Assam and North Burma. The great majority of hosts of this species were shrews. The only chiggers of this subgenus found in Malaya are G. (S.) hipposideros (Audy), G. (S.) arona n.sp. and G. (S.) birella n.sp. The two latter species are unique in possessing an anal plate. Teh following new species were found in Assam and Burma: G. (S.) liota, G. erula, G. helata and G. gammonsi. Of these G. erula is a parasite of Rattus, while the other three apparently infest shrews. G. kalrata n.sp. was collected from a mouse in Kashmir.
Chiggers of the subgenus Schöngastiella are relatively uncommon as compared with such trombiculids as Trombicula deliensis Walch, T. fulleri Ewing, and Euschöngastia indica (Hirst). Despit intensive collecting, involving hundreds of hosts and thousands of chiggers, some of the new species are represented only by one to three specimens. This group of mites is remarkably uniform insofar as concerns the setae of the palpae and the sensory setae of the legs, taxonomic characters of specific value in other genera. |