Laelaps (mite)
| Laelaps | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Subclass: | Acari |
| Order: | Mesostigmata |
| Family: | Laelapidae |
| Genus: |
Laelaps Koch, 1836 |
| Type species | |
|
Laelaps agilis Koch, 1836 |
|
| Species | |
|
See text |
|
See text
Laelaps is a genus of common parasitic mites in the family Laelapidae. Species, with their hosts, include:
Unnamed or unidentified species have been reported on Gerbilliscus robustus and Acomys wilsoni in Tanzania and on the marsh rice rat (Oryzomys palustris) in Florida and Georgia.
In 1866, an incomplete theropod dinosaur skeleton (ANSP 9995) was found in New Jersey by workers in a quarry belonging to the upper part of the New Egypt Formation. Paleontologist E.D. Cope described the remains, naming the creature "Laelaps" ("storm wind", after the dog in Greek mythology that never failed to catch what it was hunting). "Laelaps" became one of the first dinosaurs described from North America (following Hadrosaurus, Aublysodon and Trachodon). Subsequently, it was discovered that the name "Laelaps" had already been given to a genus of mite, and Cope's lifelong rival O.C. Marsh changed the name in 1877 to Dryptosaurus.
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