A parasitic species new to science – the Sardinian Wall Lizard Chigger (Lacertacus sardiniensis) has been discovered by a group of Russian, Hungarian and Maltese researchers. The parasite lives on the endemic Tyrrhenian Wall Lizard.

One of the scientists, Arnold Sciberras, who has been studying reptiles and amphibians for several years, has been observing this and similar species parasitising externally a number of herpetofaunal species.

Sciberras and his colleagues published their finding on this previously unknown species in the International Journal of Acarology.

The scientific study included details on the Sand and Wall Lizard Chigger (Ericotrombidium caucasicum), a new species for the Maltese islands that differs slightly from other known specimens.

The latter species in the same study was found new to Lipari and Alicudi, which form part of the Aeolian Islands near Sicily.

Very little is known on the biology of the latter species except that its preferred host locally is the endemic Maltese wall lizard.

In 2012, Sciberras and other researchers published the findings of another new species to science – Esther’s Gecko Mite (Geckobia estherae) – exclusively endemic to the Maltese islands. To date the species has only been found in one locality in Malta living on a host that is quite widespread.

The species was named in honour of Esther Sciberras for her continuous assistance to Sciberras in the study of natural history.

In the same study, another species of mite (G. latastei) was found in the Maltese islands for the first time.

The latter species has quite a vast Mediterranean distribution. This scientific work was published in the journal Acarologia.

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