Family HALACARIDAE Murray, 1877

Museums

Regional Maps

• Halacaridae Murray, A. 1877. Economic Entomology. Aptera. South Kensington Museum Science Handbook no. 1. London : Chapman and Hall 433 pp.

 

Introduction

The Halacaridae is a large family of mites that are found in marine habitats, especially in the intertidal zone, but some species are known from deeper water, and some occur in brackish and fresh water habitats. Most species have been collected among algae, coral, barnacles, and on rocky and sandy beaches. Some feed on algae, while others have been shown to be predatory or parasitic on marine invertebrates (Walter et al. 2009). The world fauna was catalogued by Bartsch (2009), who recorded 1118 species in 63 genera. The known Australian fauna includes 239 species in 35 genera, with more than half of those species described or recorded since 1999. Unidentified species have been recorded from Australia a number of times as listed for each genus, and unidentified Halacaridae were also reported by Storey et al. (1993), Harvey (1998) and Boulton et al. (2004).

Several previous Australian records in this family have been shown to be in error. Otto (1993) showed that Lohmann's (1893, 1909) record of the European species Agauopsis hirsuta (Trouessart, 1889) from Australia is a misidentification, and that Lohmann's specimens were probably a mixture of Agauopsis warringa Otto, 1993 and an undescribed species. Agauopsis hirsuta has not been validly recorded from Australia. According to Otto (1999) the record of Agauopsis similis from Australia by Bartsch (1986) is in error and these specimens belong to some other undescribed species. The European species Agauopsis brevipalpus (Trouessart, 1889) was recorded from Australia by Lohmann (1893), and this record was repeated by subsequent authors. The record from Australia is in error, and this species does not occur in Australia (Bartsch 2009). The European species Agaue microrhyncha (Trouessart, 1889) was recorded from Australia by Lohmann (1893), and this record was repeated by subsequent authors. The record from Australia is in error, and this species probably does not occur in Australia (Bartsch 2009).

Bartsch (2016) revised several genera of Halacaridae, and moved all the Australian species that had been placed in Arhodeoporus into other genera.

 

Excluded Taxa

Misidentifications

Halacaridae: Agauopsis brevipalpus (Trouessart, 1889) — Trouessart, E.L. 1889. Sur les acariens marins des côtes de France. Comptes Rendus (Hebdomadaires) des Séances de l'Academie des Sciences. Série D. Sciences Naturelles 108: 1178-1181

Halacaridae: Agauopsis hirsuta (Trouessart, 1889) — Trouessart, E.L. 1889. D'acariens marins (Halacaridae) des cotes de France. Diagnoses d'espèces et genres nouveaux. Le Naturaliste 58: 181

Halacaridae: Agauopsis microrhyncha (Trouessart, 1889) — Trouessart, E.L. 1889. Sur les acariens marins des côtes de France. Comptes Rendus (Hebdomadaires) des Séances de l'Academie des Sciences. Série D. Sciences Naturelles 108: 1178-1181

Halacaridae: Agauopsis similis Bartsch, 1979 — Bartsch, I. 1979. Five new species of Halacaridae (Acari) from New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 13: 175-185

 

General References

Bartsch, I. 1986. Zur Gattung Agauopsis (Acari, Halacaridae), Beschreibung zweier neuer Arten und übersicht über Verwandtschaftsgruppen. Zoologica Scripta 15: 165-174

Bartsch, I. 2009. Checklist of marine and freshwater halacarid mite genera and species (Halacaridae: Acari) with notes on synonyms, habitats, distribution and descriptions of the taxa. Zootaxa 1998: 1–170

Bartsch, I. 2009. Checklist of marine and freshwater halacarid mite genera and species (Halacaridae: Acari) with notes on synonyms, habitats, distribution and descriptions of the taxa. Zootaxa 1998: 1–170

Bartsch, I. 2016. Arhodeoporus, Camactognathus, Plegadognathus, and Winlundia (Acari: Halacaridae), re-evaluation and geographical distribution. Acarologia 56: 553-571

Boulton, A., Harvey, M. & Proctor, H. 2004. Of spates and species: responses by interstitial water mites to simulated spates in a subtropical Australian river. Experimental and Applied Acarology 34: 149–169

Harvey, M.S. 1998. The Australian Water Mites. A Guide to the Families and Genera. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 150 pp.

Lohmann, H.T. 1893. Die Halacarinen der Plankton-Expedition. Ergebnisse der Plankton-Expedition der Humboldt-Stiftung. (Reprinted 1971 by J. Cramer, Lehre). Kiel und Liepzig : Lipsius & Tischer Vol. 2 95 pls I-XIII.

Lohmann, H.T. 1909. Marine Hydrachnidae und Halacaridae. In Michaelsen, W. & Hartmeyer, R. (eds). Die Fauna Südwest-Australiens 2(11): 149-154

Otto, J.C. 1993. Description of a new species of the Agauopsis hirsuta - group from Australia (Acarina : Halacaridae). Acarologia 34: 211-221

Otto, J.C. 1999. Halacarid fauna of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea: The genera Agauopsis and Halacaropsis (Acarina: Halacaridae). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 43: 797-817

Storey, A.W., Halse, S.A. & Shiel, R.J. 1993. Aquatic invertebrate fauna of the Two Peoples Bay area, southwestern Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 76: 25-32

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.

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
05-Dec-2019	Acari	20-Sep-2021	MODIFIED	Dr Bruce Halliday
01-May-2017	Acari	20-Sep-2021	MODIFIED	Dr Bruce Halliday
07-May-2013		20-Sep-2021	MODIFIED
29-Jul-2010		29-Jul-2010	MOVED
07-May-2013		09-Jul-2010	ADDED
		08-Jul-2010	MODIFIED