Family CALIGONELLIDAE Grandjean, 1944

Museums

Regional Maps

• Caligonellidae Grandjean, F. 1944. Observations sur les acariens de la famille des Stigmaeidae. Archives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles, Genève 26: 103-121.

Introduction

The Australian Caligonellidae are very poorly known, with records of only two identified species. Unidentified species in several genera have been recorded from Australia, and unidentified Caligonellidae were also reported by Osler et al. (2000), Adolphson & Kinnear (2008) and Proctor et al. (2011). Elsewhere the family includes five genera of soft-bodied mites found in leaf litter, under bark, in birds' nests, and on low plants (Summers & Schlinger 1955; Walter et al. 2009). The best known regional fauna is that of southern Africa (Smith Meyer & Ueckermann 1989). Nothing is known of their biology; they are believed to be predatory.

General References

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

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

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

Smith Meyer, M.K.P. & Ueckermann, E.A. 1989. African Raphignathoidea (Acari: Prostigmata). Republic of South Africa Department of Agriculture and Water Supply, Entomology Memoir 74: 1–58

Summers, F.M. & Schlinger, E.I. 1955. Mites of the family Caligonellidae (Acarina). Hilgardia 23: 539-561

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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