Family NEMATALYCIDAE Strenzke, 1954

Museums

Regional Maps

• Nematalycidae Strenzke, K. 1954. Nematalycus nematoides n. gen. n. sp. (Acarina Trombidiformes) aus dem grundwasser der Algerischen küste. Vie et Milieu 4: 638-647.

Introduction

The bizarre and highly modified family Nematalycidae was first recorded from Australia by Norton & Kinnear (1999), who collected one known species of Gordialycus and two undescribed species of Nematalycus. The family includes four genera, all of which occur in deep sandy soils, but nothing else is known of their biology (Walter 2009). They are probably more abundant than published records would suggest, due to the technical difficulty of sampling and extracting mites from deep sandy soil (Norton et al. 2008). The name of this family and genus have often been mis-spelled as Nematalychidae and Nematalychus.

General References

Norton, R.A., Oliveira, A.R. & de Moraes, G.J. 2008. First Brazilian records of the acariform mite genera Adelphacarus and Gordialycus (Acari: Acariformes: Adelphacaridae and Nematalycidae). International Journal of Acarology 34: 91–94

Norton, R.A. & Kinnear, A. 1999. New Australian records of xerophilic acariform mites (Oribatida and Prostigmata). Australian Entomologist 26: 53-55

Walter, D.E. 2009. Suborder Endeostigmata. pp. 421-429 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