Family TRACHYTIDAE Trägårdh, 1938

Museums

Regional Maps

• Trachytidae Trägårdh, I. 1938. Further contributions towards the comparative morphology and classifcation of the Mesostigmata. Entomologisk Tidskrift 59: 123–158.

Introduction

The family Trachytidae includes seven genera and about 100 species that occur in leaf litter, moss, tree holes, and rotting wood. Most species are known from Europe, with a few species in Asia, North America, and South America (Camin 1953; Hirschmann & Wiśniewski 1993; Lindquist et al. 2009). These species have strongly ornamented idiosomal shields and strongly plumose body setae, which often trap a layer of cuticular wax and adhering debris. Błoszyk et al. (2005) reviewed most of the known genera and added the new genus Acroseius. The Australian fauna includes one species in the cosmopolitan genus Polyaspinus and two species in the endemic genus Acroseius. The two species that are placed in the genus Uroseius are both based on questionable identifications. Unidentified species of Trachytidae have been reported from Australia by Beaulieu (2012) and Proctor et al. (2011).

General References

Beaulieu, F. 2012. Saproxyly in predatory mites? Mesostigmata in decaying log habitats versus litter in a wet eucalypt forest, Tasmania, Australia. International Journal of Acarology 38: 313–323

Błoszyk, J., Halliday, R.B. & Dylewska, M. 2005. Acroseius womersleyi gen. nov., sp. nov., a new genus and species of Uropodina from Australia (Acari: Trachytidae). Systematic and Applied Acarology 10: 41-60

Camin, J.H. 1953. A revision of the Cohort Trachytina Trägårdh, 1938, with the description of Dyscritaspis whartoni, a new genus and species of Polyaspid mite from tree holes. Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of Sciences 9: 335-385

Hirschmann, W. & Wisniewski, J. 1993. Acari Parasitiformes. Supercohors Atrichopygidiina Hirschmann 1975. Die Uropodiden der Erde. Acarologie. Schriftenreihe für Vergleichende Milbenkunde 40: 1-466

Lindquist, E.E., Krantz, G.W. & Walter, D.E. 2009. Order Mesostigmata. pp.124-232 in Krantz, G.W. & Walter, D.E. (eds). A Manual of Acarology. Lubbock, Texas : Texas Tech University Press Third edition, 807 pp.

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

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