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Insect habitats in Antarctica*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

J. L. Gressitt and
R. E. Leech
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Extract

About fifty species of terrestrial arthropods have been collected in Antarctica; these include mites, ticks, springtails, sucking lice, biting lice and flies. The mites include both free-living and parasitic forms, the springtails and flies are free-living, and the ticks and lice are parasitic. The ticks, parasitic mites, and biting lice are associated with birds, and the sucking lice with seals. The number of species are about equally divided between free-living and parasitic forms. The ability of insects and mites to survive the very low winter temperatures and frequent strong winds of Antarctica is of considerable interest; judged in relation to commonly accepted ideas of tolerance, the environment is extremely forbidding.

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Articles
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Polar Record , Volume 10 , Issue 68 , May 1961, pp. 501 - 504
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1961

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References

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