Family PALAEACARIDAE Grandjean, 1932

Museums

Regional Maps

• Palæcaridæ Grandjean, F. 1932. Au sujet des Palaeacariformes Trägårdh. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris [published 1907-1971] 4: 411-426.

Introduction

The family Palaeacaridae is small, with two genera and six species world-wide (Schatz et al. 2011). Its species are usually found in forest litter, where they appear to feed on fungi, but are never abundant (Norton & Behan-Pelletier 2009). The family has a Holarctic distribution, with the exception of two records from semi-arid Western Australia. The Australian Palaeacaridae are represented only by unidentified species of Palaeacarus (Kinnear 1991; Colloff & Halliday 1998), and an unidentified species of Palaeacaridae reported by Richards (1971).

General References

Colloff, M.J. & Halliday, R.B. 1998. Oribatid Mites: A Catalogue of the Australian Genera and Species. Melbourne : CSIRO Publications.

Norton, R.A. & Behan-Pelletier, V.M. 2009. Suborder Oribatida. pp. 430–564 in Krantz, G.W. & Walter, D.E. (eds). A Manual of Acarology. Lubbock, Texas : Texas Tech University Press Third edition, 807 pp.

Richards, A.M. 1971. An ecological study of the cavernicolous fauna of the Nullarbor Plain southern Australia. Journal of Zoology, London 164: 1-60 pls I-V

Schatz, H., Behan-Pelletier, V.M., OConnor, B.M. & Norton, R.A. 2011. Suborder Oribatida van der Hammen, 1968. pp. 141–148 in Zhang, Z.-Q. Animal Biodiversity: An Outline of Higher-level Classification and Survey of Taxonomic Richness. Auckland : Magnolia Press.

History of changes