Family TORRENTICOLIDAE Piersig, 1902

Museums

Regional Maps

• Torrenticolidae Piersig, R. 1902. Thor, Sig., Eigenrtiige, bisher unbekannte Drüsen bei einzelnen 'Hydrachniden' - Formen. Zoologisches Centralblatt 9: 848-850.

Introduction

The Torrenticolidae is a small family of water mites that are found in springs and streams world-wide (Walter et al. 2009). The adults are presumably predators, and the larvae, where known, are parasites of Chironomidae. The Australian fauna includes two species of Monatractides which were described by Cook (1986), catalogued by Viets (1987), reviewed by Harvey (1998), and revised by Pešić & Smit (2011). The single unconfirmed record of Torrenticola may be based on a misidentification. The generic and subgeneric classification of the family has been subject to extensive revision, and I have not attempted to place the Australian species in subgenera.

General References

Cook, D.R. 1986. Water mites from Australia. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 40: 1-568

Harvey, M.S. 1998. The Australian Water Mites. A Guide to the Families and Genera. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 150 pp.

Pešić, V. & Smit, H. 2011. Water mites of the genus Monatractides Viets (Acari: Hydrachnidia, Torrenticolidae) from New Guinea, with description of nine new species. Zootaxa 2779: 39–62

Viets, K.O. 1987. Die Milben des Süsswassers (Hydrachnellae und Halacaridae (Part.), Acari). 2. Katalog. Berlin : Paul Parey 1012 pp.

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