Family TARSOCHEYLIDAE Atyeo & Baker, 1964

Museums

Regional Maps

• Tarsocheylidae Atyeo, W. & Baker, E.W. 1964. Tarsocheylidae, a new family of Prostigmatic mites (Acarina). Bulletin of the University of Nebraska State Museum 4: 243-256.

Introduction

The family Tarsocheylidae appears to be cosmopolitan, but the two genera and 12 species are very poorly known. They are difficult to identify, because many of the published descriptions do not contain enough detailed information. They are small elongate mites that occur in soil and organic matter, with some species associated with pine bark and bark beetles (Walter et al. 2009). The most important taxonomic work on the family is by Lindquist (1976, 1987). The family is known from Australia only from two reports of unidentified species (Lindquist 1976; Seeman & Nahrung 2000).

General References

Lindquist, E.E. 1976. Transfer of the Tarsocheylidae to the Heterostigmata, and reassignment of the Tarsonemina and Heterostigmata to lower hierarchic status in the Prostigmata (Acari). The Canadian Entomologist 108: 23-48

Lindquist, E.E. 1987. Observations on the larva and protonymph of tarsocheylid mites (Acari: Heterostigmata). Acarologia 28: 137–150

Seeman, O.D. & Nahrung, H.F. 2000. Mites as fungal vectors? The ectoparasitic fungi of mites and their arthropod associates in Queensland. Australasian Mycologist 19: 3-9

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