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Family BDELLIDAE Dugès, 1834

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Family BDELLIDAE Dugès, 1834

Introduction

The Bdellidae is a family of 16 genera and more than 250 species of predators that feed on other mites and small soft-bodied insects (Walter et al. 2009; Hernandes et al. 2016). They occur in a wide range of microhabitats including the soil surface, leaf litter, on low plants, and under rocks and bark. They are easily recognised by their elongate snout-like gnathosoma. Some species may be beneficial in contributing to the control of pest mites and insects (reviewed by Gerson et al. 2003). In Australia, Bdellodes lapidaria and Neomolgus capillatus contribute to the control of the lucerne flea Sminthurus viridis. The Australian fauna of seven genera and 42 species of Bdellidae was reviewed by Wallace & Mahon (1973, 1976). Hernandes et al. (2016) prepared a comprehensive catalogue of the family, which forms the basis of the classification used here.

Many of the records of Australian Bdellidae in Womersley (1933) were based on misidentifications, which were corrected by Wallace & Mahon (1973, 1976). For example, Womersley (1933) and Atyeo (1963) reported Biscirus silvaticus (Kramer) from Australia, but these specimens were re-identified by Wallace & Mahon (1973) as a mixture of B. aquilonius and B. arenarius. Bdella lignicola Canestrini sensu Womersley was re-identified as Spinibdella depressa by Atyeo (1963), but Wallace & Mahon (1973) pointed out that the identification of these species is very ambiguous. Womersley's Australian records of Scirus longirostris, Bdella lignicola, Biscirus silvaticus, Biscirus intermedius and Biscirus symmetricus are also based on misidentifications. Some of these misidentifications are repeated in Hernandes et al. (2016) and Paktinat-Saeej et al. (2016).

Unidentified species have been recorded from Australia a number of times as listed for each genus, and unidentified Bdellidae were also reported by Wood (1971), Greenslade (1985), Noble et al. (1990, 1996a, 1996b), Stone & Simpson (1990), James & Whitney (1993), Walter et al. (1994), Walter (1995), Frost & Bailey (1997), Longstaff et al. (1999), Osler et al. (2000), Callan et al. (2011), Beyer et al. (2011) and Proctor et al. (2011).

 

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

Callan, S.K., Majer, J.D., Edwards, K. & Moro, D. 2011. Documenting the terrestrial invertebrate fauna of Barrow Island, Western Australia. Australian Journal of Entomology 50: 323–343

Frost, W.E. & Bailey, P. 1997. Identifying Mites on Inland Australian Citrus. A Colour Guide for Growers, Packers and Quarantine Staff. South Australian Research and Development Institute, Adelaide. 8 pp.

Gerson, U., Smiley, R.L. & Ochoa, R. 2003. Mites (Acari) for Pest Control. Oxford : Blackwell Science 539 pp.

Greenslade, P. 1985. Terrestrial invertebrates of the mound spring bores, creek beds and other habitats. pp. 64-77 in Greenslade, J., Joseph, L. & Reeves, A. (eds). South Australia's Mound Springs. Adelaide : Nature Conservation Society of South Australia.

Hernandes, F.A., Skvarla, M.J., Fisher, J.R., Dowling, A.P.G., Ochoa, R., Ueckermann, E.A. & Bauchan, G.R. 2016. Catalogue of snout mites (Acariformes: Bdellidae) of the world. Zootaxa 4152: 1-83

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

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.

Noble, J.C., Kaliszewski, M. & Whitford, W.G. 1990. Soil Acari from burnt and unburnt mallee habitats in western New South Wales. pp. 224-225 in Noble, J.C., Joss, P.J. & Jones, G.K. (eds). The Mallee Lands: A Conservation Perspective. Melbourne : CSIRO Publications.

Noble, J.C., Tongway, D.J., Roper, M.M. & Whitford, W.G. 1996b. Fire studies in mallee (Eucalyptus spp.) communities of western New South Wales: spatial and temporal fluxes in soil chemistry and soil biology following prescribed fire. Pacific Conservation Biology 2: 398-413

Noble, J.C., Whitford, W.G. & Kaliszewski, M. 1996a. Soil and litter microarthropod populations from two contrasting ecosystems in semi-arid eastern Australia. Journal of Arid Environments 32: 329-346

Osler, G.H.R., van Vliet, P.C.J., Gauci, C.S. & Abbott, L.K. 2000. Changes in free living soil nematode and micro-arthropod communities under a canola-wheat-lupin rotation in Western Australia. Australian Journal of Soil Research 38: 47–59

Paktinat-Saeej, S., Bagheri, M., Saboori, A., Seilsepour, N. & Ueckermann, E. 2016. A new snout mite, Spinibdella tabarii sp. nov. (Trombidiformes: Bdellidae) from Iran, with a summary of Spinibdella distributions worldwide. Systematic and Applied Acarology 20: 693-706.

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

Stone, C. & Simpson, J.A. 1990. Species associations in Ips grandicollis galleries in Pinus taeda. New Zealand Journal of Forestry Science 20: 75-96.

Wallace, M.M.H. & Mahon, J.A. 1973. The taxonomy and biology of Australian Bdellidae (Acari). I. Subfamilies Bdellinae, Spinibdellinae and Cytinae. Acarologia 14: 544-580

Wallace, M.M.H. & Mahon, J.A. 1976. The taxonomy and biology of Australian Bdellidae (Acari). II. Subfamily Odontoscrinae. Acarologia 18: 65-123

Walter, D.E. 1995. Dancing on the head of a pin: mites in the rainforest canopy. pp. 49-53 in M.S. Harvey (ed.). Australasian Spiders and their Relatives: Papers Honouring Barbara York Main. Records of the Western Australian Museum 52(Supplement)

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.

Walter, D.E., O'Dowd, D. & Barnes, V. 1994. The forgotten arthropods: Foliar mites in the forest canopy. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 36: 221-226

Womersley, H. 1933. A preliminary account of the Bdellidae (Snout mites) of Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 57: 97-107

Wood, T.G. 1971. The distribution and abundance of Folsomides deserticola (Collembola: Isotomidae) and other micro-arthropods in arid and semi-arid soils in southern Australia, with a note on nematode populations. Pedobiologia 11: 446-468

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
05-Dec-2019 Acari 20-Sep-2021 MODIFIED Dr Bruce Halliday
01-May-2017 Acari 20-Sep-2021 MODIFIED Dr Bruce Halliday
07-May-2013 20-Sep-2021 MODIFIED
29-Jul-2010 29-Jul-2010 MOVED
07-May-2013 09-Jul-2010 ADDED
08-Jul-2010 MODIFIED