Family ASCIDAE Voigts & Oudemans, 1905

Museums

Regional Maps

• Ascainae Voigts, H. & Oudemans, A.C. 1905. Zur Kenntnis der Milben-Fauna von Bremen. Abhandlungen Herausgegeben vom Naturwissenschaftlichen Verein zu Bremen 18: 199-252 pls XII-XIX.

Introduction

The genera that were previously placed in the family Ascidae have now been distributed among three families; Ascidae, Blattisociidae, and Melicharidae, following the revised classification presented by Lindquist et al. (2009). Ascidae occur in soil and litter, under bark, and in compost and bracket fungi, and some species disperse by phoresy on Diptera and Coleoptera. Most are predators, which feed on other mites, nematodes, and the eggs and larvae of small insects, while a few species are fungivorous. The Australian genera of Ascidae were reviewed by Halliday et al. (1998), but new species have been described in several genera since that time. The fauna now includes 31 species in ten genera, but undescribed or unidentified species in many genera are known to exist in collections. Beaulieu & Weeks (2007) reviewed the state of knowledge and ecological significance of this group in Australia. Unidentified Ascidae have been reported from Australia a number of times, for example by Callan et al. (2011) and Majer et al. (2013). All the Australian species were included in the world-wide catalogue of Moraes et al (2016).

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

Callan, S.K., Majer, J.D., Edwards, K. & Moro, D. 2011. Documenting the terrestrial invertebrate fauna of Barrow Island, Western Australia. Australian Journal of Entomology 50: 323–343

Halliday, R.B., Walter, D.E. & Lindquist, E.E. 1998. Revision of the Australian Ascidae (Acarina: Mesostigmata). Invertebrate Taxonomy 12: 1-54

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.

Majer, J.D., Callan, S.K., Edwards, K., Gunawardene, N.R. & Taylor, C.K. 2013. Baseline survey of the terrestrial invertebrate fauna of Barrow Island. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 83: 13-112.

Moraes, G.J. de, Britto, E.P.J., Mineiro, J.L.de C. & Halliday, B. 2016. Catalogue of the mite families Ascidae Voigts & Oudemans, Blattisociidae Garman and Melicharidae Hirschmann (Acari: Mesostigmata). Zootaxa 4112: 1-299.

History of changes