Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 April 2009
Claparède (1869) established the genus Myocoptes for a mite, found upon a house-mouse (Mus musculus musculus L., 1758), which had been described by C. L. Koch (1844) under the name Sarcoptes musculinus (syn. Listrophorus larisi Vorobiov, 1938). In this genus sexual dimorphism is pronounced; the female has legs iii and iv modified and provided with processes with which it can maintain a firm grasp on the fur of its host. In the male this modification is only present on legs iii.