Family AMEROSEIIDAE Evans, 1961

Museums

Regional Maps

• Ameroseiidae Evans, G.O. 1961. Family Ameroseiidae Evans. pp. 244 in Hughes, A.M. The Mites of Stored Food Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Technical Bulletin no. 9. London : Her Majesty's Stationery Office 287 pp.

Introduction

The genera of Ameroseiidae fall into two reasonably well-defined morphological and ecological classes (LIndquist et al. 2009). The genera Ameroseius (including Kleemannia) and Epicriopsis include strongly sclerotised and ornamented species that occur in leaf litter, where they feed on fungi. The genera Afrocypholaelaps, Hattena, Brontispalaelaps and Neocypholaelaps are less strongly sclerotised and ornamented, and occur in flowers, where they are phoretic on pollinators such as birds, bees, and other insects, and feed on pollen and nectar. The Australian fauna includes 11 known species in six genera, as revised by Halliday (1997), and the species associated with bees were reviewed by Walter et al. (2002). Beaulieu & Weeks (2007) reviewed the state of knowledge and ecological significance of this group in Australia. Lowry (1980), Beaulieu et al. (2010) and Proctor et al. (2011) reported unidentified species of Ameroseiidae.

General References

Beaulieu, F. & Weeks, A.R. 2007. Free-living mesostigmatic mites in Australia: their roles in biological control and bioindication. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 47: 460–478

Beaulieu., F., Walter, D.E., Proctor, H.C. & Kitching, R.L. 2010. The canopy starts at 0.5 m: predatory mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) differ between rainforest floor soil and suspended soil at any height. Biotropica 42: 704–709 + supplementary pages 1–13

Halliday, R.B. 1997. Revision of the Australian Ameroseiidae (Acarina: Mesostigmata). Invertebrate Taxonomy 10: 179-201

Lindquist, E.E., Krantz, G.W. & Walter, D.E. 2009. Order Mesostigmata. pp.124-232 in Krantz, G.W. & Walter, D.E. (eds). A Manual of Acarology. Lubbock, Texas : Texas Tech University Press Third edition, 807 pp.

Lowry, J.W.J. 1980. Ecological Relationships of Western Australian Cavernicoles. MSc. Thesis, School of Zoology, University of New South Wales. Vol. 1 367 pp., Vol. 2 204 pp. + appendices

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., Beard, J.J., Walker, K.L. & Sparks, K. 2002. Of mites and bees: A review of mite-bee associations in Australia and a revision of Raymentia Womersley (Acari: Mesostigmata: Laelapidae), with the description of two new species of mites from Lasioglossum (Paraspechodes) spp. (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). Australian Journal of Entomology 41: 128-148

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