EN
Stationery private apiary localized in Pulawy was the area, where the samples of European earwig (Forficula auricularia L.) were collected for this study. Acarological analyses of insects settled with external mites were conducted during the summer-autumn seasons (20042006). Results of microscopic examinations of 211 collected adult earwig specimens show that majority of them, i.e. 81.5% were settled with phoretic forms of astigmatid mites (Astigmata). They were phoretic hypopodes belonging mainly to superfamilies Anoetoidea (fam. Histiostomatidae: Histiostoma polypori, H. feroniarum) and significantly rare to Acaroidea (fam. Acaridae: Acarus farris, Caloglyphus berlesei, Rhizoglyphus echinopus); infestation of earwigs with mites belonging to other systematic groups was very rare or sporadic only. The number of mites per one insect varied from a single to over 100 hypopi (at average: 8.4). They were located mainly in the anterior part of lateral side of thorax, on the surface of posterior end (cerci) of abdomen, rare on ventral side of body, sometimes also on the legs but very rare on distal, movable body parts (tarsi, mouth parts, antennae).