Family PHTHIRACARIDAE Perty, 1841

Museums

Regional Maps

• Phthiracaridae Perty, M. 1841. Allgemeine Naturgeschichte, als Philosophische und Humanitätswissenschaft für Naturforscher, Philosophen und das höher gebildete Publikum. Bern : C. Fischer Vol. 3.
• Steganacaridae Niedbała, W. 1986. Système des Phthiracaroidea (Oribatida, Euptyctima). Acarologia 27: 61-84.

 

Introduction

The family Phthiracaridae is very large and cosmopolitan, and includes ten genera and more than 800 species world-wide (Schatz et al. 2011). Different authors have used different concepts of the genera in this family, but the classification used here is based on that of Subias (2011). The adults of these mites are common in leaf litter, where they feed on decaying plant material and fungi, and their immature stages are found in burrows in dead wood (Norton & Behan-Pelletier 2009). The Australian fauna includes nine genera and over 100 species, most of which were revised by Niedbała (2000, 2012). Incompletely identified species of Austrophthiracarus, Hoplophthiracarus, Notophthiracarus and Plonaphacarus were reported by Walter & Behan-Pelletier (1993), Colloff & Niedbala (1996), Osler (1997) and Colloff & Halliday (1998). These species have now been described and named in later papers. Incompletely identified species have also been reported by Springett (1976), Osler & Beattie (2001), Proctor et al. (2002), Callan et al. (2011) and Majer et al. (2013).

Notophthiracarus fulvus (Niedbała, 1985) was described from Papua New Guinea, correctly recorded from Papua New Guinea by Subias (2004, 2011), and incorrectly recorded from Australia by Balogh & Balogh (2002).

Niedbała & Liu (2018) incorrectly recorded Notophthiracarus dugdalei from Australia. This is a New Zealand endemic species.

 

Excluded Taxa

Misidentifications

Phthiracaridae: Notophthiracarus fulvus Niedbała, 1985 — Niedbała, W. 1985. Hoplophthiracarus fulvus n. sp. de Papouasie-Nouvelle Guinée (Acari, Oribatida, Phthiracaridae). Acarologia 26: 101–102

Other Excluded

PHTHIRACARIDAE: Notophthiracarus dugdalei Liu & Zhang, 2013 — Niedbała, W. & Liu, D. 2018. Catalogue of ptyctimous mites (Acari, Oribatida) of the world. Zootaxa 4393(1): 1-238

 

General References

Balogh, J. & Balogh, P. 2002. Identification Keys to the Oribatid Mites of the Extra-Holarctic Regions. Miskolc. : Well-Press Publishing Vol. 1, 453 pp. + Vol. 2, 504 pp.

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

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

Colloff, M.J. & Niedbała, W. 1996. Arboreal and terrestrial habitats of phthiracaroid mites (Oribatida) in Tasmanian rainforests. pp. 607-612 in Mitchell, R., Horn, D.J., Needham, G.R. & Welbourn, C. (eds). Acarology IX. Columbus : Ohio Biological Survey Vol. 1.

Majer, J.D., Callan, S.K., Edwards, K., Gunawardene, N.R. & Taylor, C.K. 2013. Baseline survey of the terrestrial invertebrate fauna of Barrow Island. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 83: 13-112.

Niedbała, W. 1984. Deux nouveaux Phthiracaridae de Papuasie, Nouvelle Guinée (Acari, Oribatida). Polskie Pismo Entomologiczne 53: 607-614

Niedbała, W. 1985. Hoplophthiracarus fulvus n. sp. de Papouasie-Nouvelle Guinée (Acari, Oribatida, Phthiracaridae). Acarologia 26: 101–102

Niedbała, W. 1986. Catalogue des Phthiracaroidea (Acari, Oribatida), clef pour la determination des espèces et descriptions d'espèces nouvelles. Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 40: 309–370

Niedbała, W. 1992. Phthiracaroidea (Acari, Oribatida). Systematic Studies. Warsaw : PWN - Polish Scientific Publishers 612 pp.

Niedbała, W. 2000. The Ptyctimous Mites Fauna of the Oriental and Australian Regions and their Centres of Origin (Acari: Oribatida). Wrocław : Polskie Towarzystwo Taksonomiczne pp. 493.

Niedbała, W. 2012. An updated study of ptyctimous mite fauna (Acari: Oribatida) of the Australasian Region with a description of thirteen new species. Acarologia 52: 183–228

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.

Osler, G.H.R. 1997. Factors Contributing to the Structure of Soil Mite Communities. PhD thesis, Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University. 212 pp.

Proctor, H.C., Montgomery, K.M., Rosen, K.E. & Kitching, R.L. 2002. Are tree trunks habitats or highways? A comparison of oribatid mite assemblages from hoop-pine bark and litter. Australian Journal of Entomology 41: 294–299

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.

Subias, L.S February 2011. Listado sistemático, sinonímico y biogeográfico de los ácaros oribátidos (Acariformes: Oribatida) del mundo (excepto fósiles). Departamento de Zoología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain. http://www.ucm.es/info/zoo/Artropodos/Catalogo.pdf [date of access 1 October 2011]

Subias, L.S. 2004. Listado sistemático, sinonímico y biogeográfico de los ácaros oribátidos (Acariformes, Oribatida) del mundo (1758-2002). Graellsia 60 (Supplement): 3–305

Walter, D.E. & Behan-Pelletier, V.M. 1993. Systematics and ecology of Adhaesozetes polyphyllos sp. nov. (Acari: Oribatida: Licneremaeoidea), a leaf-inhabiting mite from Australian rainforests. Canadian Journal of Zoology 71: 1024-1040

 

History of changes

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
07-May-2013		07-Aug-2012	MOVED
07-May-2013		28-Jul-2010	MOVED
07-May-2013		28-Jul-2010	MOVED
		08-Jul-2010	MODIFIED