Androlaelaps rotundus Fonseca (Acari: Laelapidae) associated with akodontine rodents in Paraguay: a morphometric examination of a pleioxenous ectoparasite

a multivariate analysis of morphometric data suggests that the nominally pleioxenous ectoparasite, androlaelaps rotundus, includes at least three distinct host-associated populations in paraguay. where multiple akodontine hosts occur sympatrically, each host species is accompanied by a morphologically distinct mite population. these host-mite associations were consistent across all localities, implying that a. rotundus is a complex of unrecognized species.