Family UROPODELLIDAE Camin, 1955

Museums

Regional Maps

• Uropodellidae Camin, J.H. 1955. Uropodellidae, a new family of mesostigmatid mites based on Uropodella laciniata Berlese, 1888 (Acarina : Liroaspina). Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of Sciences 10: 65-81.

Introduction

The Uropodellidae is a monotypic family of heavily armoured mites, whose members are easily recognised by the anterior margin of the podonotal shield, which is produced into a spiky knob. The genus Uropodella Camin includes six little-known species from the Americas and Africa, where they are associated with rotting wood, tree holes, and bark beetle galleries (Lindquist et al. 2009). Nothing is known of their biology. One undescribed species has been reported from Australia, and it may represent an undescribed genus (Walter & Proctor 2001; Beaulieu et al. 2010).

General References

Beaulieu., F., Walter, D.E., Proctor, H.C. & Kitching, R.L. 2010. The canopy starts at 0.5 m: predatory mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) differ between rainforest floor soil and suspended soil at any height. Biotropica 42: 704–709 + supplementary pages 1–13

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.

Walter, D.E. & Proctor, H.C. 2001. Mites in Soil. An Interactive Key to Mites and Other Soil Microarthropods. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra, Australia. [CD-ROM]

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