Trombea

Trombea 

a superfamily of suborder Trombidiformes.

Trombea reach 2–3 mm in length. Their color ranges from pinkish white to red. There are two families, Trombiculidae and Leeuwenhoekiidae, embracing 1,600 species. They are distributed all over the world, from the tundra to the subtropics and tropics. There are 150 species in the USSR. The adults and nymphs live in the soil. They are predators feeding on lower insects and their eggs. Trombea are parasites at only one phase of their life cycle, that is, as larvae; the hosts can be mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Some species of Trombea attack man. The bites cause dermatitides in man and animals. In southeast Asia, Trombea may serve as carriers of the causative agent of scrub typhus, a serious rickettsial disease.

REFERENCES

Shluger, E. G. “Kleshchi krasnotelki (Trombiculidae).” In the collection Perenoschiki vozbuditelei prirodnoochagovykh boleznei. Moscow, 1962.
Schluger, E. G. “Kleshchi krasnotelki (Trombiculidae).” In the collection Metody izucheniia prirodnykh ochagov boleznei cheloveka. Moscow, 1964.

E. G. SHLUGER