Family VEIGAIIDAE Oudemans, 1939

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• Veigaiaidae Oudemans, A.C. 1939. Neue funde auf dem Gebiete der Systematik und der Nomenclatur der Acari. III. Zoologischer Anzeiger 126: 20-24 [original spelling].

Introduction

The family Veigaiidae includes three genera and about 100 species (Lindquist et al. 2009). Recent taxonomic studies of the family include those of Hurlbutt (1983, 1984), Tseng (1994) and Mašán et al. (2008). Veigaiidae are found in leaf litter, moss, and seaweed, where they prey on a variety of small soft-bodied invertebrates. The Australian fauna includes only four species in a single genus, and only one of those species is an Australian native. The others are normally European or Holarctic, and may have been accidentally introduced by human activities (Halliday 2001). Unidentified Veigaiidae were also reported by Longstaff et al. (1999), Beaulieu et al. (2010) and Proctor et al. (2011).

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

Halliday, R.B. 2001. Mesostigmatid mite fauna of Jenolan Caves, New South Wales (Acari: Mesostigmata). Australian Journal of Entomology 40: 299-311

Hurlbutt, H.W. 1983. The systematics and geographic distribution of east African Veigaiidae (Acarina : Mesostigmata). Acarologia 24: 129-143

Hurlbutt, H.W. 1984. A study of North American Veigaia (Acarina: Mesostigmata) with comparisons of habitats of unisexual and bisexual forms. Acarologia 25: 207–222

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.

Longstaff, B.C., Greenslade, P.J.M., Colloff, M., Reid, I., Hart, P. & Packer, I. 1999. Managing Soils in Agriculture. The Impact of Soil Tillage Practices on Soil Fauna. Canberra, Australia : Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation Publication No 99/18. pp. 65.

Mašán, P., Fenďa, P. & Mihál, I. 2008. New edaphic mites of the genus Veigaia from Slovakia and Bulgaria, with a key to the European species (Acari, Mesostigmata, Veigaiidae). Zootaxa 1897: 1–19

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

Tseng, Y.-H. 1994. A taxonomic study of free-living gamasine mite family Veigaiidae Oudemand (Acari: Mesostigmata) from Taiwan. Chinese Journal of Entomology 14: 501–528

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