''Neotrombicula fujigmo'' is a species of harvest mite. It is an

ectoparasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

of shrews and rats. ''N. fujigmo'' is found in the

Indomalayan realm The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Ind ...

and has been recorded in Myanmar and India.

Cornelius Becker Philip Cornelius Becker Philip (1900–1987) was an American entomologist, noted for assigning comedic names to species he described. Works * Philip, C.B. 1931. The Tabanidae (horseflies) of Minnesota. With special reference to their biologies and taxon ...

and H. S. Fuller described the species in 1950, initially placing it in the genus ''

Trombicula ''Trombicula'', known as chiggers, red bugs, scrub-itch mites, or berry bugs, are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods) in the Trombiculidae family. In their larval stage, they attach to various animals and humans, then feed on skin, often ...

''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

comes from the

military slang Military slang is an array of colloquial terminology used commonly by military personnel, including slang which is unique to or originates with the armed forces. In English-speaking countries, it often takes the form of abbreviations/acronyms or d ...

''FUJIGMO''.

Etymology

The etymology Cornelius B. Philip and H. S. Fuller gave with their description says that it "commemorates a humorous, slang term evolved by soldiers of the Allied Forces in the Far East to express their impatience to return home after

V-J Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on wh ...

." ''FUJIGMO'' is

and an

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

for ''Fuck you, Jack, I got my orders''. Philip first saw this phrase, using the less common spelling ''FUGIGMO'', in Japan at the end of World War II; he saw it printed over the door of an American officer's tent. The officer explained it was a slogan used to express soldiers' impatience to return home. Philip proposed this would be a good name for a species to Fuller, who agreed. The term ''FUJIGMO'' has also been described as "an expression of indifference and mild defiance"; after getting separation, members of the armed forces might become apathetic about what would happen to the rest of their unit. ''FUJIGMO'' could also accompany a refusal to obey someone who had been their superior after getting transfer orders but before physically relocating. Philip was known for coming up with humorous, whimsical names for taxa such as '' Chrysops balzaphire'' ("balls of fire") and '' Tabanus rhizonshine'' ("rise and shine"). The expletive nature of the etymology has led this species to be included in lists and discussions of taxa with unusual or humorous names. The entomologist Arnold Menke listed ''Trombicula fujigmo'' in a 1993 list of "Funny or Curious Zoological Names" with the instructions to "ask any WWII vet what 'fujigmo' stands for".

Distribution

''N. fujigmo'' is found in the

. it has only been recorded in India and Myanmar. The type locality is north of

Myitkyina Myitkyina (, ; Jingpho language, Jinghpaw: ''Myitkyina'', ; , ''Sèna'') is the capital city of Kachin State in Myanmar (Burma), located from Yangon, and from Mandalay. In Burmese language, Burmese it means "near the big river", and Myitkyina i ...

Kachin State Kachin State (; Jingpho language, Kachin: ) is the northernmost administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. It is bordered by China to the north and east (Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibet and Yunnan, respectively), Shan State to the sou ...

, Myanmar. It has also been found in

Northeast India Northeast India, officially the North Eastern Region (NER), is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political Administrative divisions of India, administrative division of the country. It comprises eight States and ...

, including , in

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

. Elsewhere in India, it has been recorded in

Thiruvananthapuram district Thiruvananthapuram District () is the List of districts of Kerala, southernmost district in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala. The district was created in 1949, with its headquarters in the city of Thiruvananth ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

Description

Only the larva of the species has been described. Eyes are in a 2/2 arrangement on the ocular plat of the idiosoma. There are 40 dorsal setae on the idiosoma, arranged 8-8-8(10)-10(8)-6. The

gnathosoma The gnathosoma (from Greek , ' = "jaw" and , ' = "body") is the part of the body of the Acari (mites and ticks) comprising the mouth and feeding parts. These are the hypostome, the chelicerae and the pedipalps. It is also called the capitulum (how ...

has a palpal setal formula of B/B.NNB/7B.S and the palpal claw has three prongs. The scutum is subpentagonal and caudally rounded. The type host is the voracious shrew, '' Crocidura vorax''. Paratypes were also collected from the Asian house rat, ''

Rattus tanezumi The tanezumi rat (''Rattus tanezumi''), also known as the Asian rat or Asian house rat, yellow-breasted or buff-breasted rat (''Rattus flavipectus''), is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is closely related to the black rat (''Rattus ...

''. It has been found on the

lesser bandicoot rat The lesser bandicoot rat, Sindhi rice rat, Bengal rat or Indian mole-rat (''Bandicota bengalensis'') is a giant rat of Southern Asia, not related to the true bandicoots which are marsupials. They can be up to long (including the tail), are cons ...

Taxonomic history

Philip and Fuller first described this species in 1950, placing it in the genus ''

''. Their description was based on eighteen larval specimens (one

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

and seventeen paratypes) which the U.S. Typhus Commission collected in northern Myanmar in 1944–1945. The holotype larva was deposited in the U.S. National Museum. Paratypes were deposited in the U.S. National Museum, the

British Museum (Natural History) The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum and ...

, the

Rocky Mountain Laboratory Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) is part of the NIH Intramural Research Program and is located in Hamilton, Montana. Operated by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, RML conducts research on maximum containment pathogens suc ...

, and the

South Australian Museum The South Australian Museum is a natural history museum and research institution in Adelaide, South Australia, founded in 1856 and owned by the Government of South Australia. It occupies a complex of buildings on North Terrace in the cultur ...

, as well as the personal collections of G. W. Wharton, Takeo Tamiya, C. B. Philip, and H. S. Fuller. A 2021 listing of Trombiculid type specimens in U.S. National Entomology Collection,

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, included four larval paratypes but did not include the holotype. Philip and Fuller placed it in the '' autumnalis''

species group In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

within ''Trombicula''. They noted that ''T. autumnalis'' was the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of ''Neotrombicula'', a subgenus Arthur Stanley Hirst had named in 1925, however Philip and Fuller did not include any subgenera in their taxonomy of ''Trombicula.'' Instead, they placed it "provisionally in the genus ''Trombicula''

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

". ''Trombicula fujigmo'' was also the combination Carl E.M. Gunther used in 1952. In 1952, George W. Wharton and Fuller included ''Neotrombicula'' as a subgenus of ''Trombicula'', giving the species the name ''T.'' (''N.'') ''fujigmo''. Audy also listed ''T. fujigmo'' as being within the subgenus ''Neotrombicula''

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...

in 1953. In 1952, Herbert Womersley included it in the genus '' Tragardhula''; this was followed by a few other taxonomic works in the 1950s, including Charles D. Radford in 1954 and J. Ralph Audy and colleagues in 1953. In 1957, ''Neotrombicula'' was itself given genus status, giving it its present binomial: ''N. fujigmo''. Arachnologists differ as to if the genus ''Neotrombicula'' itself has subgenera or not. Taxonomists who do divide ''Neotrombicula'' into multiple subgenera place ''N. fujigmo'' into the nominotypical subgenus: ''N.'' (''Neotrombicula'') ''fujigmo'', ''N. fujigmo'' has sometimes been placed in the ''bisignata'' group within ''Neotrombicula'', but others have disagreed with this group placement.

Notes

References

Works cited

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