| abstract | Seventeen new species of chiggers and three new genera, Aniatrus, Polylopadium, and Vanidicus, are described from Panama and the Canal Zone. New species and their type hosts are: Euschöngastia spissa, Hoffmannina handleyi, Trombicula caccabulus, T. dicrura, T. Keenani and T. tiptoni off Peromyscus nudipes; Ascoschöngastia dyscrita, Polylopadium kramisi, T. liomys and Vanidicus tricosus off Liomys adspersus; Odontacarus fieldi off Zygodontomys sherriei; Aniatrus bifax off Dasypus novemcinctus; Eus. cunctata off Oryzomys talamancae; Eus. tragulata off Nasua narica; T. arremonops off Arremonops conirostris; T. chiriquensis off Scotinomys teguina; T. cribanus off Proechimys semispinosus.
The genus Polylopadium is unique among chiggers in that the larvae have 13 dorsal plates in addition to the scutum. |