Erythraeoidea

Adult male Sphaerotarsus allmani, from Southcott (1961).

Belongs within: Parasitengonina.
Contains: Erythraeinae, Balaustiinae, Callidosomatinae, Leptus, Smaridinae.

The Erythraeoidea are a group of mites in which the adults and nymphs are predatory. The larvae are generally parasitic on other arthropods, though a few species are known to feed on pollen. Living erythraeoids are divided between the two families Smarididae and Erythraeidae. Adults of the Smarididae generally have flattened bodies, and the gnathosoma is placed on an extendable collar that can be fully retracted into the idiosoma. The Erythraeidae are generally less flattened, and the gnathosoma is not fully retractable. Two pairs of eyes are present in the smaridid taxa Smaridinae and Phanolophus and the erythraeid Erythraeinae. Phanolophus has the eyes placed between the levels of the anterior and posterior sensillary areas on the crista. A single pair of eyes is present in the smaridid Hirstistomatinae and the other erythraeid subfamilies (Southcott 1961). A third family has been recognised for Proterythraeus southcotti, described from a larva found in Cretaceous Canadian amber.

Characters (from Southcott 1961): Eyes always present, sessile, one or two on each side. Thumb-complex present to palp. Two pairs of idiosomal sensillae (bothrialae) present: in the adult these are usually placed on a dorsal crista metopica; in the larva usually placed on a dorsal scutum. Chelicerae of adult styliform. Adult peritremes placed dorsally on mouth-cone, longitudinal. Larvae without external genital aperture or anus. Larval coxae always separated. Larva without urstigma.

<==Erythraeoidea [Leptoidea, Rhyncholophidae, Rhyncholophides, Rhyncholophinae]
    |  i. s.: Erythrombium Berlese 1910 (n. d.) S61
    |           `--*E. eusisyrum Berlese 1910 (n. d.) S61
    |         Pararainbowia martilli Dunlop 2007 ZF11
    |--Proterythraeus WL09 [Proterythraeidae ZF11]
    |    `--P. southcotti WL09
    |--Erythraeidae [Erythreidae, Leptidae, Leptides, Leptoidae, Rhyncholophini, Rhyncholophoidae] G91
    |    |  i. s.: Cloquetia Oudemans 1941 S61
    |    |           `--*C. medioareolata (Kramer 1898) [=Rhyncholophus medioareolatus] S61
    |    |         Pseudoerythraeus Haitlinger 2004 F05
    |    |           `--*P. ernesti Haitlinger 2004 F05
    |    |         Actineda S22
    |    |           |--A. pallescens CF77
    |    |           `--A. vitis S22
    |    |         Scyphius cerinus [incl. S. pratensis, S. pyrroleucus] CF77
    |    |         Harpagella Southcott 1996 H98
    |    |           `--H. moxonae Southcott 1996 H98
    |    |         Neabrolophus S76
    |    |           |--N. bisetis (Evans 1953) S76, S61 [=Balaustium bisetis S61]
    |    |           |--N. brevisetorum S76
    |    |           |--N. hirsutus Shiba 1976 S76
    |    |           `--N. longisetorum S76
    |    |         Arythaena troguloides Menge 1854 S93
    |    |--Erythraeinae G91
    |    `--+--Balaustiinae G91
    |       `--+--Callidosomatinae G91
    |          `--+--Leptus G91
    |             `--Myrmicotrombium Womersley 1934 S61 [=Myrmicothrombium (l. c.) S61; Myrmicotrombiinae G91]
    |                  `--*M. brevicristatum Womersley 1934 S61
    `--Smarididae [Smaridae, Smarididen, Smaridiidae, Smarisidae] G91
         |  i. s.: Hehlenia Oudemans 1941 (n. d.) S61
         |           `--*H. papillosa (Koch 1837) (n. d.) (see below for synonymy) S61
         |         Pilosoma Southcott 1961 S61
         |           `--*P. pluto Southcott 1961 S61
         |         Surasmaris longirostris WL09
         |         Neophanolophus Shiba 1976 S76
         |           `--*N. morii Shiba 1976 S76
         |--Smaridinae S61
         |--Phanolophus André 1927 (see below for synonymy) S61
         |    |--P. oedipodarum (Frauenfeld 1868) (see below for synonymy) S61
         |    `--‘*Platylophus’ argasoides Berlese 1910 [=*Euplatylophus argasoides] S61
         `--Hirstiosomatinae S61
              |--Trichosmaris jacoti K90, WL09
              |--Clipeosoma Southcott 1948 S61
              |    |--*C. copiolarum Southcott 1948 S61
              |    |--C. furtadoi Shiba 1976 S76
              |    `--C. jupiter Southcott 1961 S61
              |--Hirstiosoma Womersley 1934 [incl. Niemannia Oudemans 1941] S61
              |    |--*H. scalare Womersley 1934 [=H. scalaris] S61
              |    |--H. ampulligera (Berlese 1887) S61 (see below for synonymy)
              |    |--H. latreillei (Grandjean 1947) S61
              |    |--H. novaehollandiae Womersley 1936 SL71
              |    `--H. tasmaniensis Womersley & Southcott 1941 H98
              `--Sphaerotarsus Womersley 1936 S61
                   |--S. allmani Womersley 1936 S61
                   |--S. claviger Womersley & Southcott 1941 H98
                   |--S. leptopilus Womersley & Southcott 1941 S61
                   |--S. monticolus Southcott 1997 H98
                   `--S. womersleyi Southcott 1946 S61

*Hehlenia papillosa (Koch 1837) (n. d.) [=Rhyncholophus papillosus non Trombidium papillosum Hermann 1804] S61

Hirstiosoma ampulligera (Berlese 1887) S61 [=Smaridia ampulligera S61, *Niemannia ampulligera S61, Smaris ampulligera SB63]

Phanolophus André 1927 [=Phanalophus (l. c.); incl. Euplatylophus Radford 1950, Euplathylophus (l. c.), Platylophus Berlese 1910 nec Swainson 1832 nec Koch 1839, Platerythraeus (l. c.); Phanolophinae] S61

Phanolophus oedipodarum (Frauenfeld 1868) [=Rhyncholophus oedipodarum; incl. Smaridia magnifica Berlese 1918, Smaris magnifica, *Phanolophus nasica André 1927, Smaris nasica] S61

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[CF77] Canestrini, G., & F. Fanzago. 1877. Intorno agli Acari Italiani. Atti del Reale Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, Serie 5, 4: 69–208, pls 2–7.

[F05] Fernández, J. 2005. Noticia de nuevos táxones para la ciencia en el ámbito Íbero-Balear y Macaronésico. Nuevos táxones animales descritos en la península Ibérica y Macaronesia desde 1994 (IX). Graellsia 61 (2): 261–282.

[G91] Gabryś, G. 1991. Intergeneric relationships within Erythraeidae (Acari, Actinedida). In: Dusbábek, F., & V. Bukva (eds) Modern Acarology: Proceedings of the VIII International Congress of Acarology, held in České Budĕjovice, Czechoslovakia, 6–11 August 1990 vol. 2 pp. 207–212. SPB Academic Publishing: The Hague.

[H98] Halliday, R. B. 1998. Mites of Australia: A checklist and bibliography. CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood.

[K90] Kethley, J. 1990. Acarina: Prostigmata (Actinedida). In: Dindal, D. L. (ed.) Soil Biology Guide pp. 667–756. John Wiley & Sones: New York.

[S22] Schweizer, J. 1922. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der terrestrischen Milbenfauna der Schweiz. Verhandl. Naturf. Ges. Basel 33: 23–112, 4 pls.

[SB63] Schweizer, J., & C. Bader. 1963. Die Landmilben der Schweiz (Mittelland, Jura und Alpen): Trombidiformes Reuter, mit 217 Arten und Unterarten und 193 Originalzeichnungen. Denkschriften der Schweizerischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft [Mémoires de la Société Helvétique des Sciences Naturelles] 84 (2): i–vi, 209–378.

[S93] Selden, P. A. 1993. Arthropoda (Aglaspidida, Pycnogonida and Chelicerata). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 297–320. Chapman & Hall: London.

[S76] Shiba, M. 1976. Taxonomic investigation on free-living Prostigmata from the Malay Peninsula. Nature and Life in Southeast Asia 7: 83–229.

[S61] Southcott, R. V. 1961. Studies on the systematics and biology of the Erythraeoidea (Acarina), with a critical revision of the genera and subfamilies. Australian Journal of Zoology 9: 367–610.

[SL71] Spain, A. V., & M. Luxton. 1971. Catalog and bibliography of the Acari of the New Zealand subregion. Pacific Insects Monograph 25: 179–226.

[WL09] Walter, D. E., E. E. Lindquist, I. M. Smith, D. R. Cook & G. W. Krantz. 2009. Order Trombidiformes. In: Krantz, G. W., & D. E. Walter (eds) A Manual of Acarology 3^rd ed. pp. 233–420. Texas Tech University Press.

[ZF11] Zhang, Z.-Q., Q.-H. Fan, V. Pesic, H. Smit, A. V. Bochkov, A. A. Khaustov, A. Baker, A. Wohltmann, T. Wen, J. W. Amrine, P. Beron, J. Lin, G. Gabryś & R. Husband. 2011. Order Trombidiformes Reuter, 1909. In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (ed.) Animal biodiversity: an outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness. Zootaxa 3148: 129–138.

Last updated: 2 July 2022.