Family EREYNETIDAE Oudemans, 1931

Museums

Regional Maps

• Ereynetidae Oudemans, A.C. 1931. Acarologische aanteekeningen. CVIII. Entomologische Berichten (Amsterdam) 8(179): 251-263.
• Spelaeognathidae Womersley, H. 1936. On a new family of Acarina, with description of a new genus and species. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 10 18: 312-315.

Introduction

The family Ereynetidae includes 180 species world-wide (Walter et al. 2009). All are found in wet habitats, and most are parasites on other animals. The Australian fauna includes 29 species in 15 genera. With a single exception, they are parasites of frogs, birds, marsupials and rodents, where they are most commonly found in the nasal passages of their hosts (catalogued by Domrow 1991). One species, Riccardoella oudemansi, is a parasite of slugs and snails. Much of the literature on the family will be found under the name Speleognathidae. Unidentified species have been recorded from Australia a number of times as listed for each genus, and unidentified Ereynetidae or Speleognathidae were also reported by Lee & Southcott (1979), Domrow (1991), Osler et al. (2000) and Proctor et al. (2011).

General References

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

Lee, D.C. & Southcott, R.V. 1979. Spiders and other Arachnids of South Australia. In South Australian Yearbook, 1979. South Australian Government Printer : Adelaide. 15 pp.

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

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.

History of changes