Family RHAGIDIIDAE Oudemans, 1922

Museums

Regional Maps

• Rhagidiidae Oudemans, A.C. 1922. Acarologische aanteekeningen. LXVII. Entomologische Berichten (Amsterdam) 6(126): 81-84.

Introduction

Mites in the family Rhagidiidae are elongate soft-bodied predators that are found in soil and litter, and many species have also been found in caves. The world fauna includes 21 genera and 125 species (Walter et al. 2009). The Australian Rhagidiidae are very poorly known, and no species has been fully identified. Unidentified species in three genera have been recorded from Australia, and unidentified Rhagidiidae were also reported by Heatwole et al.. (1981), Walter (1995, 1999), Longstaff et al. (1999), Osler et al. (2000), Kinnear & Tongway (2004), Adolphson & Kinnear (2008), Proctor et al. (2011) and Eberhard et al. (2014). It seems certain that many Australian species await discovery.

General References

Adolphson, H. & Kinnear, A. 2008. Acari (mite) assemblages under plantations of bluegum, Eucalyptus globulus, in southwestern Australia. Pedobiologia 51: 427–437

Eberhard, S.M., Smith, G.B., Gibian, M.M., Smith, H.M. & Gray, M.R. 2014. Invertebrate cave fauna of Jenolan. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 136: 35-67.

Heatwole, H., Done, T. & Cameron, E. 1981. Community Ecology of a Coral Cay: A study of One-Tree Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The Hague : W. Junk 379 pp.

Kinnear, A. & Tongway, D. 2004. Grazing impacts on soil mites of semi-arid chenopod shrublands in Western Australia. Journal of Arid Environments 56: 63–82

Longstaff, B.C., Greenslade, P.J.M., Colloff, M., Reid, I., Hart, P. & Packer, I. 1999. Managing Soils in Agriculture. The Impact of Soil Tillage Practices on Soil Fauna. Canberra, Australia : Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation Publication No 99/18. pp. 65.

Osler, G.H.R., van Vliet, P.C.J., Gauci, C.S. & Abbott, L.K. 2000. Changes in free living soil nematode and micro-arthropod communities under a canola-wheat-lupin rotation in Western Australia. Australian Journal of Soil Research 38: 47–59

Proctor, H., Kanowski, J., Catterall, C.P., Wardell-Johnson, G. & Reis, T. 2011. Rainforest-restoration success as judged by assemblages of soil- and litter-dwelling mites (Arachnida: Acari). Zoosymposia 6: 234–254

Walter, D.E. 1995. Dancing on the head of a pin: mites in the rainforest canopy. pp. 49-53 in M.S. Harvey (ed.). Australasian Spiders and their Relatives: Papers Honouring Barbara York Main. Records of the Western Australian Museum 52(Supplement)

Walter, D.E. 1999. Living on leaves: adaptations of Australian rainforest mites. pp. 73–78 in Needham, G.R., Mitchell, R., Horn, D.J. & Welbourn, W.C. Acarology IX. Volume 2. Symposia. Columbus, Ohio : Ohio Biological Survey.

Walter, D.E., Lindquist, E.E., Smith, I.M., Cook, D.R. & Krantz, G.W. 2009. Order Trombidiformes. pp. 233-420 in Krantz, G.W. & Walter, D.E. (eds). A Manual of Acarology. Lubbock, Texas : Texas Tech University Press Third edition, 807 pp.

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