Observations on the Habits and Life History of a Chigger Mite, Eutrombicula Batatas (Acarina: Trombiculinae)

Although chiggers are severe pests in many parts of the world and are important disease vectors in a large area of the Far East, detailed life history studies have so far been published only for the Japanese species. Life history studies of this group have a peculiar importance from the standpoint of disease transmission, since an individual chigger feeds on a vertebrate host only once during its entire life, and in only one stage, the larva. The disease organisms must, therefore, pass from the larva of one generation through all the successive stages, including the egg, to the larva of the next generation. In the present paper the life history of one of the species of chiggers most commonly encountered in Panama is discussed.