Family IPHIOPSIDIDAE Kramer, 1886

Museums

Regional Maps

• Iphiopsidae Kramer, P. 1886. Ueber Milben. Archiv für Naturgeschichte 52: 241-268 + pl. XII.

Introduction

The concept of the family Iphiopsididae as used here is based on Casanueva (1993) and Lindquist et al. (2009), except that I have placed Scissuralaelaps in the Laelapidae. Some of the ten genera in the family are very poorly known, and the descriptions of many of the species are inadequate to allow a confident family placement. The family appears to be an artificial assemblage of genera that are not closely related. Most species have ecological associations with other invertebrates, including burrowing insects, millipedes, crustaceans, and spiders, and may be either parasitic or commensal on their hosts. Evans (1955) reviewed the genera associated with millipedes and centipedes. The Australian fauna includes four genera and seven species, which have been collected either as free-living, or associated with millipedes and spiders. Halliday & Juvara-Bals (2016) reviewed the genus Ljunghia, and pointed out that the families Iphiopsididae and Laelapidae as presently defined cannot be clearly distinguished.

General References

Casanueva, M.E. 1993. Phylogenetic studies of the free-living and arthropod associated Laelapidae (Acari: Mesostigmata). Gayana Zoologia, Concepcion 57: 21-46

Evans, G.O. 1955. A review of the laelaptid paraphages of the Myriapoda with descriptions of three new species (Acarina: Laelaptidae). Parasitology 45: 352–368

Halliday, B. & Juvara-Bals, I. 2016. Systematics and biology of the mite genus Ljunghia Oudemans in Southeast Asia (Acari: Laelapidae). Systematic and Applied Acarology 21: 830-864.

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.

History of changes