Acaridae

Mould mite Tyrophagus putrescentiae, from the US Department of Agriculture.

Belongs within: Acaroidea.
Contains: Acarus, Rhizoglyphinae.

The Acaridae are a diverse group of often generalised astigmatan mites. Many species are insect associates, with a phoretic hypopus (deutonymph) stage in the life cycle (Philips 1990). Members of the basal subfamily Acarinae appear to be vertebrate nidicoles (i.e. living in vertebrate nesting structures such as nests, burrows or human houses); deutonymphs are known to be phoretic on fleas (OConnor 2001). Horstiinae are nidicoles and/or kleptoparasites of social insects such as bees, ants and termites (OConnor 2009). The Tyrophaginae are ancestrally associated with Hymenoptera, both solitary and social species, but most Tyrophagus have diversed into a broader range of habitats (OConnor 2001). Tyrophagus putrescentiae is perhaps the world's most ubiquitous astigmatan mite and is commonly found in peridomestic situations or on plant tissue (OConnor 2009).

Characters (from Philips 1990): Chelicerae chelate-dentate. Idiosoma usually smooth, with simple setae; setae vi present; sejugal furrow present. Tarsi with pair of sclerotised condylophores supporting well-developed empodial claw in fleshy pretarsus; tibia I with two setae and one solenidion. Males usually with pair of anal suckers and pair of suckers on tarsus IV. Hypopus with scapular setae smooth; posteroventral sucker plate present.

<==Acaridae [Acarini, Tyroglyphidae, Tyroglyphiens]
    |--Acarinae O01
    |    |--Psyllacarus Fain et al. 1990 O01, H98
    |    |    `--P. subellipticus Fain et al. 1990 H98
    |    `--+--Paraceroglyphus O01
    |       `--+--Trichopsylopus O01
    |          `--Acarus O01
    `--+--Horstiinae O01
       |    |--Neohorstia O01
       |    `--+--+--Megachilopus O01
       |       |  `--+--Sennertionyx O01
       |       |     `--Cerophagopsis Zakhvatkin 1941 O01, H98
       |       |          |--C. indicus O01
       |       |          `--C. trigona (Fain & Heard 1987) [=Cerophagus trigonus] H98
       |       `--+--Diadasiopus O01
       |          `--+--Horstiella O01
       |             `--+--Medeus O01
       |                `--Horstia O01 [incl. Ceroglyphus O09]
       |                     |--H. longa O01
       |                     `--H. virginica K62
       `--+--+--‘Acotyledon’ formosani O01
          |  `--Rhizoglyphinae O01
          `--Tyrophaginae [Tyrophagidae] O01
               |  i. s.: Schulzea O01
               |         Aleuroglyphus ovatus (Troupeau 1879) O01, DA07
               |--Lackerbaueria O01
               `--+--Kuzinia laevis O01, KK96
                  `--+--Forcellinia Oudemans 1924 O01
                     |    |--F. galleriella Womersley 1963 H98
                     |    `--F. wasmanni G39
                     `--Tyrophagus Oudemans 1924 O01, V25 [Tyrophagini]
                          |--*T. putrescentiae (Schrank 1781) V25 (see below for synonymy)
                          |--T. australasiae (Oudemans 1916) [=Tyroglyphus australasiae] V25
                          |--T. formicitorum O01
                          |--T. fungivorus SM91
                          |--T. longior (Gervais 1844) (see below for synonymy) H98
                          |--T. neiswanderi Johnston & Bruce 1965 W91
                          |--T. oudemansi Robertson 1959 F76
                          |--T. palmarum Oudemans 1924 W91
                          |--T. perniciosus Zachvatkin 1941 W91
                          |--T. similis Volgin 1949 [incl. T. oudemansi Robertson 1959] H98
                          |    |--T. s. similis F76
                          |    `--T. s. kerguelenensis Fain 1976 F76
                          `--T. zachvatkini O09

Acaridae incertae sedis:
  Mycetoglyphus fungivorus O01, KA07
  Neoacotyledon O01
  Tyroborus Oudemans 1924 H98
    |--T. houstoni Fain 1986 H98
    `--T. lini (Oudemans 1924) DA07
  Fagacarus O09
  Konoglyphus P90
  Neotropacarus W99
    |--N. bakeri W99
    `--N. mumai W99
  Reckiacarus O09
  Trichodactylus xylocopae CF77
  Australhypopus Fain & Friend 1984 H98
    `--A. flagellifer Fain & Friend 1984 H98
  Lowryacarus Fain 1986 H98
    `--L. longipes Fain 1986 H98
  Tyrolichus Oudemans 1924 H98
    `--T. casei Oudemans 1910 [=Tyrophagus casei] H98

Tyrophagus longior (Gervais 1844) [=Tyroglyphus longior; incl. Tyrophagus tenuiclavus Zachvatkin 1941, Tyrofagus (l. c.) tenuiclavus] H98

*Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Schrank 1781) V25 [=Acarus putrescentiae V25, Tyroglyphus (*Tyrophagus) putrescentiae V25; incl. Tyroglyphus longior var. castellanii Hirst 1912 H98, Tyrophagus castellanii H98, Tyroglyphus lintneri Osborn 1893 H98]

*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.

[DA07] Domes, K., M. Althammer, R. A. Norton, S. Scheu & M. Maraun. 2007. The phylogenetic relationship between Astigmata and Oribatida (Acari) as indicated by molecular markers. Experimental and Applied Acarology 42 (3): 159–171.

[F76] Fain, A. 1976. Acariens récoltés par le Dr. J. Travé aux iles subantarctiques II. Familles Acaridae, Anoetidae, Ereynetidae et Tarsonemidae (astigmates et prostigmates). Acarologia 18 (2): 302–328.

[G39] Grandjean, F. 1939. La chaetotaxie des pattes chez les Acaridiae. Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France 64: 50–60.

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

[KA07] Kasuga, S., & H. Amano. 2007. Tyrophagus mites (Acari: Acaridae) as agricultural pests in Japan, with special reference to spinach cultivation. In: Morales-Malacara, J. B., V. M. Behan-Pelletier, E. Ueckermann, T. M. Pérez, E. G. Estrada-Venegas & M. Badii (eds) Acarology XI: Proceedings of the International Congress pp. 443–450. Instituto de Biología and Faculdad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Sociedad Latinoamericana de Acarología: México.

[K62] Krombein, K. V. 1962. Natural history of Plummers Island, Maryland. XVI. Biological notes on Chaetodactylus krombeini Baker, a parasitic mite of the megachilid bee, Osmia (Osmia) lignaria Say (Acarina: Chaetodactylidae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 75: 237–250.

[KK96] Kumar, N. R., & R. Kumar. 1996. Mites in plant pollinator ecosystem: influence on conserving biodiversity. In: Mitchell, R., D. J. Horn, G. R. Needham & W. C. Welbourn (eds) Acarology IX vol. 1. Proceedings pp. 133–136. Ohio Biological Survey: Columbus (Ohio).

[O01] OConnor, B. M. 2001. Historical ecology of the Acaridae (Acari): phylogenetic evidence for host and habitat shifts. In: Halliday, R. B., D. E. Walter, H. C. Proctor, R. A. Norton & M. J. Colloff (eds) Acarology: Proceedings of the 10^th International Congress pp. 76–82. CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne.

[O09] OConnor, B. M. 2009. Cohort Astigmatina. In: Krantz, G. W., & D. E. Walter (eds) A Manual of Acarology 3^rd ed. pp. 565–657. Texas Tech University Press.

[P90] Philips, J. R. 1990. Acarina: Astigmata (Acaridida). In: Dindal, D. L. (ed.) Soil Biology Guide pp. 757–778. John Wiley & Sones: New York.

[SM91] Serralheiro, F., & M. Madeira. 1991. Acari colonization of Quercus suber and Eucalyptus globulus litter. 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. 1 pp. 353–358. SPB Academic Publishing: The Hague.

[V25] Vitzthum, H. 1925. Fauna sumatrensis. (Beitrag no. 5). Acarinae. Supplementa Entomologica 11: 1–79.

[W99] Walter, D. E. 1999. Review of Australian Asperoseius Chant, Euseius Wainstein, Okiseius Ehara and Phytoscutus Muma (Acari: Mesostigmata: Phytoseiidae) with a key to the genera of Australian Amblyseiinae and descriptions of two new species. Australian Journal of Entomology 38: 85–95.

[W91] Walzl, M. G. 1991. Comparison of the sclerotized structures of Acaridae and Glycyphagidae used for copulation. 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. 283–286. SPB Academic Publishing: The Hague.

Last updated: 10 May 2019.