Family CHAETODACTYLIDAE Zakhvatkin, 1941

Museums

Regional Maps

• Chaetodactylinae Zakhvatkin, A.A. 1941. Fauna of U.S.S.R. Arachnoidea. Vol. VI. No. 1. Tyroglyphoidea (Acari).Translated and edited by A. Ratcliffe and A. M. Hughes, 1959. Washington D.C. : American Institute of Biological Sciences 573 pp.

Introduction

The family Chaetodactylidae is represented in Australia by only three identified species of Sennertia (reviewed by Fain 1982). Further unidentified species of Sennertia and Chaetodactylus were reported by Walter et al. (2002). The world fauna includes over 100 species, suggesting that many more Australian species await discovery. All species of Chaetodactylidae occur in the nests of bees (OConnor 2009), and their deutonymphs are phoretic on bees. Most species appear to function mainly as kleptoparasites, feeding on the pollen and nectar stores of their hosts, but some species can cause economic damage to pollinators.

General References

Fain, A. 1982. Sennertia Oudemans (Acari, Chaetodactylidae) on Australian bees. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 106: 67-70

OConnor, B.M. 2009. Cohort Astigmatina. pp. 565–657 in Krantz, G.W. & Walter, D.E. (eds). A Manual of Acarology. Lubbock, Texas : Texas Tech University Press Third edition, 807 pp.

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

History of changes