Family CHEYLETIDAE Leach, 1815

Museums

Regional Maps

• Cheyletides Leach, W.E. 1815. A tabular view of the external characters of four classes of animals, which Linné arranged under Insecta; with the distribution of the genera composing three of these classes into orders &c. and descriptions of several new genera and species. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 11: 306-400.
• Cheyletiellinae Volgin, V.I. 1966. Morphological peculiarities of the mites of the family Cheyletidae (Acarina, Trombidiformes) and their ontogenetical development. Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie (English translation as Entomological Reviews) 45: 217-231.

 

Introduction

The family Cheyletidae includes about 74 genera and 370 species world-wide (Walter et al. 2009). The world fauna was reviewed by Volgin (1969). Most species are predators, and occur in very wide range of microhabitats, including soil and litter, the nests of vertebrates and insects, under bark, on plants and fungi, and in stored food. Some species may be beneficial, and contribute to the control of pest mites in stored food and house dust, and insects and mites on plants (Gerson et al. 2003). Others are parasitic or semi-parasitic on birds and mammals. A total of 36 species of Cheyletidae has been reported from Australia, in 25 genera. The species associated with vertebrate hosts were catalogued by Domrow (1991), and the family in general was reviewed by Gerson (1994). Unidentified species have been recorded from Australia a number of times as listed for each genus, and unidentified Cheyletidae were also reported by Tovey et al. (1975), Lowry (1980), Heatwole et al. (1981), James & Whitney (1993), Osler et al. (2000) and Proctor et al. (2011).

Two species recorded from Australia are now excluded. Womersley (1941) recorded Cheyletia flabellifera Michael from Australia but this was a misidentification of specimens that were later described as Eucheyletia womersleyi Volgin (Gerson, 1994). Womersley (1941) recorded Cheletiella pinguis (Berlese) from Australia (record repeated by Volgin 1969), but this was a misidentification of specimens that were later described as Ornithocheyletia lawrenceae Smiley (Gerson 1994).

 

Excluded Taxa

Misidentifications

Cheyletidae: Cheyletia flabellifera Michael, 1878 — Michael, A.D. 1878. On a species of Acarus of the genus Cheyletus, believed to be new. Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, London 1: 133–138 + Plate 6

Cheyletidae: Ornithocheyletia pinguis (Berlese, 1889) — Berlese, A. 1889. Acari, Myriopoda et Scorpiones hucusque in Italia reperta 56. 19 text pages + Plates 1-10. Reprint by Junk, The Hague, 1979.

 

General References

Domrow, R. 1991. Acari Prostigmata (excluding Trombiculidae) parasitic on Australian vertebrates : an annotated checklist, keys and bibliography. Invertebrate Taxonomy 4: 1238-1376

Gerson, U. 1994. The Australian Cheyletidae (Acari: Prostigmata). Invertebrate Taxonomy 8: 435-447

Gerson, U., Smiley, R.L. & Ochoa, R. 2003. Mites (Acari) for Pest Control. Oxford : Blackwell Science 539 pp.

Heatwole, H., Done, T. & Cameron, E. 1981. Community Ecology of a Coral Cay: A study of One-Tree Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The Hague : W. Junk 379 pp.

James, D.G. & Whitney, J. 1993. Mite populations on grapevines in south-eastern Australia: Implications for biological control of grapevine mites (Acarina: Tenuipalpidae, Eriophyidae). Experimental and Applied Acarology 17: 259-270

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

Tovey, E.R., Guinan, J.E. & Vandenberg, R.A. 1975. Mite populations in Sydney household bedding with particular reference to nursery sheepskins. Medical Journal of Australia 1975(2): 770-772

Volgin, V.I. 1969. Kleshchi Semeistva Cheyletidae Mirovoi Fauny (Keys to the Fauna of the USSR, volume 101). (Nauka, Leningrad). Translated by P.M. Rao, 1989, as Acarina of the Family Cheyletidae of the World. Leiden : Brill 532 pp.

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.

Womersley, H. 1941. Notes on the Cheyletidae (Acarina, Trombidoidea) of Australia and New Zealand, with descriptions of new species. Records of the South Australian Museum (Adelaide) 7: 51-64

 

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
28-Jul-2010		28-Jul-2010	MOVED
07-May-2013		09-Jul-2010	ADDED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)