Laelaps (mite)


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 in Florida and Georgia.

Synonym of ''Dryptosaurus''

In 1866, an incomplete theropod dinosaur skeleton 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". "Laelaps" became one of the first dinosaurs described from North America. 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.

Literature cited