Monochamus sartor (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) contributes to alpha diversity of Uropodina mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) in first stage of wood decay in Bialowieza Primeval Forest

During the process of slow decay, dead wood is colonized by a diverse group of invertebrates. Pioneer communities of insects are composed of representatives of two families of beetles: Cerambycidae and Curculionidae, which may be carriers for mites. In this paper, we check which species of mites are carried by Monochamus sartor (Fabricius, 1787) in the largest natural forest complex in the North European Plain - The Biaowiea Primeval Forest. Individuals of the species were collected in June and July 2012 with 64 intercept traps. In the context of the previous studies on phoresy of mites on the bark beetle Ips typographus (Linnaeus, 1978) in Biaowiea Primeval Forest, we conclude that the process of colonization of decaying wood by diverse species of insects entails increase in mite species diversity in this habitat (merocenosis). Our research indicates that mites travel on elytra and pronota of M. sartor; however, dimensions (width and length) of these parts of body as well as the sex of the beetle are not significant for phoretic deutonymphs.