Family PYGMEPHORIDAE Cross, 1965

Museums

Regional Maps

• Pygmephorinae Cross, E.A. 1965. The generic relationships of the family Pyemotidae (Acarina : Trombidiformes). University of Kansas Science Bulletin 45: 29-275.

Introduction

The classification of the Pygmephoridae, Siteroptidae, and some related families has been unstable and confused, partly as a result of widespread polymorphism, in which morphologically different phoretic and non-phoretic females occur in the same species. The classification used here is that of Walter et al. (2009). The Pygmephoridae as defined there includes at least 350 species in about 30 genera. Most species are associated with insects, including beetles, Hymenoptera, moths, and to a lesser extent, flies and other arthropod groups. Other species occur in birds' nests, mammal nests, under bark, and in dung and other decaying organic matter. They are fungivores, and some species are pests in commercial mushroom cultivation. The Australian Pygmephoridae are poorly known, with only five species in four genera. Unidentified species have been recorded from Australia a number of times as listed for each genus, and unidentified Pygmephoridae were also reported by Kinnear & Tongway (2004), Philips (2009), Beyer et al. (2011) and Proctor et al. (2011). It is likely that many more species await discovery.

General References

Beyer, S., Kinnear, A., Hutley, L.B., McGuiness, K. & Gibb, K. 2011. Assessing the relationship between fire and grazing on soil characteristics and mite communities in a semi-arid savanna of northern Australia. Pedobiologia 54: 195–200

Kinnear, A. & Tongway, D. 2004. Grazing impacts on soil mites of semi-arid chenopod shrublands in Western Australia. Journal of Arid Environments 56: 63–82

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

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