Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Schrank), commonly known as the cereal mite, cheese mite, or ham mite, is a cosmopolitan species reported from various environments in the wild, including soil, plant material and vertebrate nests. It has also been recognized as a common pest of food storages, mycological collections as well as plant and invertebrate laboratory cultures. Laboratory observations indicate that T. putrescentiae feeds on a large range of dermatophytes, yeasts and molds. We have observed the interspecific relation between this mite and several species of true slime molds (Mycetozoa) under laboratory conditions, which confirms the very broad spectrum of feeding habits of T. putrescentiae. Mycetozoans were grown in semi-sterile in vitro cultures and fed with oat flour or oat flakes. Tyrophagus putrescentiae displayed affinity to all macroscopically identifiable stages of the life cycle of Fuligo septica (L.) F.H. Wigg, Physarum polycephalum Schwein and the Didymium sp. complex [Didymium iridis (Ditmar) Fr., Didymium nigripes (Link) Fr. and Didymium bahiense Gottsb.]: live, decaying or dead plasmodia, sporangia, aethalia, spores and sclerotia. The relation carrying symptoms of various types of interspecific interaction, is hypothesized to form an evolutionarily young phenomenon, which not only identifies a new aspect of mycetozoal biology, but also presents the cereal mite as a species of high adaptive potential.

腐烂的Tyrophagus putrescentiae（Schrank），通常被称为谷物螨，起司螨或火腿螨，是一种从世界上各种环境中报告出来的世界性物种，包括土壤，植物材料和脊椎动物的巢穴。它也被认为是食品储存，真菌学收藏以及植物和无脊椎动物实验室培养物中的常见害虫。实验室观察表明，腐烂嗜热杆菌以多种皮肤真菌，酵母和霉菌为食。我们已经在实验室条件下观察到了这种螨虫与几种真正的粘液霉菌（Mycetozoa）之间的种间关系，这证实了腐烂锥虫的摄食习性范围非常广泛。。分枝杆菌在半无菌体外培养物中生长，并饲喂燕麦粉或燕麦片。腐食酪螨显示亲和力的生命周期的所有肉眼可识别的阶段Fuligo败血（L.）FH Wigg，多头绒泡菌Schwein和镨钕SP。复合物[ Didymium iridis（Ditmar）Fr.，Didymium nigripes（Link）Fr. 和Didymium bahiense[Gottsb。]：活的，腐烂的或死亡的疟原虫，孢子囊，心律失常，孢子和菌核。据推测，这种带有各种种间相互作用的症状的关系会形成一种进化上的年轻现象，这不仅确定了犬齿动物生物学的一个新方面，而且还提出了谷物螨是具有高度适应性的物种。