Family PARASITIDAE Oudemans, 1901

Museums

Regional Maps

• Parasitinae Oudemans, A.C. 1901. Notes on Acari. Third series. Tijdschrift der Nederlandsche Dierkundige Vereeniging 7: 50-88 pls I-III.
• Gammasides 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 [original spelling].
• Gamasidae 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 [emendation].

Introduction

The oldest available name for this family is Gamasidae Leach, 1815. The names Gamasidae and Parasitidae are both in widespread use, but I here use Parasitidae, following Lindquist et al. (2009) and most other modern authors. Different authors have used different concepts for the size and number of genera in the family. Hrúzová & Fenďa (2018) recently published a key to genera of Parasitidae, and I have tried to use that classification here.

The Australian fauna appears to be rather depauperate, with only four genera and ten identified species. Most of the identified species are common and cosmopolitan, and there does not appear to be any distinctive Australian component of the fauna. However, there are large numbers of unidentified and unstudied taxa in collections, so that perception is likely to change when a thorough revision of the fauna is attempted. Unidentified species have been recorded from Australia many times, for example by Lee & Southcott (1979), Lowry (1980), James & Whitney (1993), Clift (1978), Longstaff et al. (1999), Philips (2009), and Proctor et al. (2011), among others. Parasitids are large fast-moving predators that are found in leaf litter, dung, compost, the nests of vertebrates and invertebrates, and all kinds of decaying organic matter. The deutonymphs of many species are phoretic on insects, especially dung beetles.

Womersley (1942) recorded from Australia a species that he tentatively identified as Pergamasus barbarus (Berlese, 1905). According to Micherdzinski (1969) this is a misidentification, and Womersley's specimens belong to some other species, as yet unidentified.

Excluded Taxa

Misidentifications

Parasitidae: Pergamasus barbarus (Berlese, 1905) — Berlese, A. 1905. Acari nuovi. Materiali pel 'Manipulus V'. Redia. Giornale di entomologia, Firenze 2: 231-238

General References

Clift, A.D. 1978. The identity, economic importance and control of insect pests of mushrooms in New South Wales, Australia. Mushroom Science 10: 367-383

Hrúzová, K. & Fenďa, P. 2018. The family Parasitidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) – history, current problems and challenges. Acarologia 58(Supplement): 25-42.

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

Karg, W. 1993. Acari (Acarina), Milben. Parasitiformes (Anactinochaeta). Cohors Gamasina Leach, Raubmilben. Die Tierwelt Deutschlands und der angrenzenden Meeresteile 59: 1–523

Lee, D.C. & Southcott, R.V. 1979. Spiders and other Arachnids of South Australia. pp. 29-43 in Leonard, B.E. (ed.). South Australian Year Book No. 14. Adelaide : Australian Bureau of Statistics.

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.

Longstaff, B.C., Greenslade, P.J.M., Colloff, M., Reid, I., Hart, P. & Packer, I. 1999. Managing Soils in Agriculture. The Impact of Soil Tillage Practices on Soil Fauna. Canberra, Australia : Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation Publication No 99/18. pp. 65.

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

Micherdzinski, W. 1969. Die Familie Parasitidae Oudemans 1901 (Acarina, Mesostigmata). Cracow : Zaklad Zoologii Systematycznej, Polskiej Akademii Nauk pp. 690.

Philips, J.R. 2009. The mite (Acarina) fauna of trogid beetles (Coleoptera: Trogidae). International Journal of Acarology 35: 1-17

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

History of changes