Family WALCHIIDAE Ewing, 1946

Museums

Regional Maps

• Walchiinae Ewing, H.E. 1946. Notes on trombiculid mites with descriptions of Walchiinae n. subfam., Speotrombicula n. gen., and Eutrombicula defecta n. sp. Journal of Parasitology 32: 435-440.

Introduction

The classification and taxonomic placement of the family Walchiidae were reviewed by Wen (1999). The family includes about 240 species, most of which occur in the Oriental and African Regions. Their larvae are parasites of small mammals, mostly rodents, and most of the known specimens have been collected either on their hosts or in nests and burrows. The Australian fauna includes three species, which are here placed in the genus Walchia. In the classification of Domrow & Lester (1985), and in Walter et al. (2009), these species would be placed in the genus Gahrliepia in the family Trombiculidae. As with the Trombiculidae, the classification of the Walchiidae is based on the larvae, and will be subject to extensive revision when the adults are discovered or reared.

Several authors have recorded Walchia disparunguis (Oudemans) from Australia. Domrow & Lester (1985) referred all these specimens to Gahrliepia disparunguis fulleri (Vercammen-Grandjean), which is here treated as Walchia fulleri, following Wen (1999).

Excluded Taxa

Misidentifications

Walchiidae: Walchia disparunguis (Oudemans, 1929) — Oudemans, A.C. 1929. Acarologische aanteekeningen. XCV. Entomologische Berichten (Amsterdam) 7(165): 393-399

General References

Domrow, R. & Lester, L.N. 1985. Chiggers of Australia (Acari : Trombiculidae) an annotated checklist, keys and bibliography. Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 114: 1-111

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.

Wen, T.H. 1999. New taxa and tentative rearrangement of Walchiidae stat. n. with remarks on Trombiculoidea nec Welbourn, 1991 (Acari: Acariformes). Systematic and Applied Acarology 4: 165-178

History of changes