Tarsonemidae

Habitus of adult female Coreitarsonemus, with leg IV of male, from Lindquist (1986).

Belongs within: Eleutherengonides.
Contains: Tarsoneminae.

The Tarsonemidae are a family of mites of diverse habits, many of which are phoretic on insects as adult females. Some species of tarsonemid are economically significant phytophages. Members of the subfamily Acarapinae are parasitic at all stages of the life cycle on adult insects. The Pseudotarsonemoidinae, characterised by the presence of three or four pairs of setae on the metapodosomal venter, together with the absence of a membranous ambulacrum on the first leg in females which usually bears a single large sessile claw, are commonly found in association with insects except for the plant-feeding genus Polyphagotarsonemus. They are divided between the tribes Pseudotarsonemoidini and Tarsonemellini, the latter of which is characterised by the presence of a small, flange-like apical process on the palp and greatly elongated cheliceral stylets that occupy the entire length of the gnathosomal capsule when retracted.

Acarapinae and Tarsoneminae share only two setae on the metapodosomal venter while the female first leg has a membranous ambulacrum with the claw usually much reduced or absent. The Acarapinae are parasitic on insects as both larvae and adults, and have long, nearly straight cheliceral stylets that extend far anterad from the gnathosomal capsule when protracted (Lindquist 1986).

Characters (from Walter et al. 2009): Cheliceral stylophore consolidated with subcapitulum to form capsulate gnathosoma; palpi reduced. Female legs IV three-segmented, usually much more slender than legs II-III, with fused femur and genu, without claws and empodium. Male legs IV three- or four-segmented, always inserted ventrally, with single sessile or vestigial claw; male genital capsule caudal in position.

<==Tarsonemidae [Dendroptidae, Tarsonemidi]
    |  i. s.: Excelsotarsonemus WL09
    |         Crossacarapis WL09
    |         Flechtmannus WL09
    |         Dermaleichus Canestrini & Fanzago 1877 CF77
    |           `--*D. starnae Canestrini & Fanzago 1877 CF77
    |         Therismoptes Amerling 1861 (n. d.) B54
    |--Pseudotarsonemoidinae L86
    |    |--Tarsonemellini L86
    |    |    |--Paratarsonemella W00
    |    |    |    |--P. giblindavisi Walter 2000 W00
    |    |    |    `--P. ramirezi W00
    |    |    `--+--Ficotarsonemus W00
    |    |       |--Alkithoenemus W00
    |    |       `--Tarsonemella Hirst 1923 W00, L86
    |    |            `--*T. africana (Hirst 1923) [=Tarsonemus (*Tarsonemella) africanus] L86
    |    `--Pseudotarsonemoidini L86
    |         |--+--Polyphagotarsonemus Beer & Nucifora 1965 (see below for synonymy) L86
    |         |  |    |--P. latus (Banks 1904) H98 (see below for synonymy)
    |         |  |    `--P. beeri (Smiley 1964) [=Hemitarsonemus beeri, *Neotarsonemus beeri] L86
    |         |  `--+--Nasutitarsonemus Beer & Nucifora 1965 L86
    |         |     |    `--*N. brontispae Beer & Nucifora 1965 L86
    |         |     `--Tarsanonychus Lindquist 1986 L86
    |         |          `--*T. emblematus Lindquist 1986 L86
    |         `--+--Ununguitarsonemus Beer & Nucifora 1965 L86
    |            |    |--*U. beameri (Beer 1958) [=Tarsonemella beameri] L86
    |            |    `--U. peacocki Smiley & Moser 1974 L86
    |            `--Pseudotarsonemoides Vitzthum 1921 L86
    |                 |--*P. eccoptogasteris Vitzthum 1921 (see below for synonymy) L86
    |                 |--P. americanus Smiley & Moser 1974 L86
    |                 |--P. fechteri Smiley & Moser 1974 L86
    |                 |--P. innumerabilis Vitzthum 1922 L86
    |                 |--P. pteleobii Cooreman 1963 L86
    |                 `--P. scolyti Smiley & Moser 1974 L86
    `--+--Tarsoneminae L86
       `--Acarapinae [Acarapidae] L86
            |--Acarapis Hirst 1921 [Acarapini] L86
            |    |--*A. woodi (Rennie 1921) SB63 [=Tarsonemus woodi H98, Acarus woodi B54]
            |    |--A. dorsalis Morgenthaler 1934 H98
            |    |--A. externus Morgenthaler in Morison 1931 H98
            |    `--A. vagans Schneider 1941 (n. d.) L86
            |--Podotarsonemus Seeman, Lindquist & Husband 2018 [Podotarsonemini] SLH18
            |    |--P. boliviensis group SLH18
            |    |    |--*P. boliviensis Seeman, Lindquist & Husband 2018 SLH18
            |    |    |--P. ecuadorensis Seeman, Lindquist & Husband 2018 SLH18
            |    |    |--P. nipponicus Seeman, Lindquist & Husband 2018 SLH18
            |    |    `--P. queenslandensis Seeman, Lindquist & Husband 2018 SLH18
            |    `--P. australiensis group SLH18
            |         |--P. australiensis Seeman, Lindquist & Husband 2018 SLH18
            |         |--P. indicus Seeman, Lindquist & Husband 2018 SLH18
            |         `--P. zuluensis Seeman, Lindquist & Husband 2018 SLH18
            `--Coreitarsonemini [Coreitarsoneminae] L86
                 |--Amcortarsonemus Fain 1971 L86
                 |    `--*A. brasiliensis Fain 1971 L86
                 `--+--Asiocortarsonemus Fain 1971 L86
                    |    `--*A. malayi Fain 1971 L86
                    `--Coreitarsonemus Fain 1970 L86, H98
                         |--*C. schoutedeni Fain 1970 L86
                         |--C. acanthocoris Fain 1970 L86
                         |--C. anoplocnemis Fain 1970 L86
                         |    |--C. a. anoplocnemis L86
                         |    `--C. a. mictis Fain 1978 L86
                         |--C. asiaticus Fain 1971 L86
                         |--C. australiae Fain 1971 H98
                         |--C. basilewskyi Fain 1970 L86
                         |    |--C. b. basilewskyi L86
                         |    `--C. b. distinctus Fain 1978 L86
                         |--C. beeri Fain 1971 L86
                         |--C. benoiti Fain 1978 L86
                         |--C. bifidus Fain 1980 L86
                         |--C. congolensis Fain 1970 L86
                         |--C. cooremani Fain 1971 L86
                         |--C. cossutiae Fain 1971 L86
                         |--C. javanicus Fain 1971 L86
                         |--C. laminiceps Fain 1971 L86
                         |--C. mexicanus Fain 1980 L86
                         |--C. neotropicalis Fain 1971 L86
                         |--C. philippinensis Fain 1971 L86
                         |--C. reticulatus Fain 1971 L86
                         `--C. schmitzi Fain 1970 L86

Polyphagotarsonemus Beer & Nucifora 1965 [incl. Avrosia Oudemans 1928 (n. d.), Neotarsonemus Smiley 1967] L86

Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks 1904) H98 [=Tarsonemus latus H98, Hemitarsonemus latus H98; incl. Acarus translucens Green 1890 non Nietner 1863 B54, *Avrosia translucens L86, Tarsonemus translucens B54]

*Pseudotarsonemoides eccoptogasteris Vitzthum 1921 [incl. P. eccoptogasteris var. phloeotribia Vitzthum 1926, P. spinitarsus Hirst 1923] L86

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B54] Beer, R. E. 1954. A revision of the Tarsonemidae of the Western Hemisphere (order, Acarina). University of Kansas Science Bulletin 36 (2): 1091–1387.

[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.

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

[L86] Lindquist, E. E. 1986. The world genera of Tarsonemidae (Acari: Heterostigmata): a morphological, phylogenetic, and systematic revision, with a reclassification of family-group taxa in the Heterostigmata. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada 118 (S136): 1–517.

[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.

[SLH18] Seeman, O. D., E. E. Lindquist & R. W. Husband. 2018. A new tribe of tarsonemid mites (Trombidiformes: Heterostigmata) parasitic on tetrigid grasshoppers (Orthoptera). Zootaxa 4418 (1): 1–54.

[W00] Walter, D. E. 2000. First record of a fig mite from the Australian region: Paratarsonemella giblindavisi sp. n. (Acari: Tarsonemidae). Australian Journal of Entomology 39: 229–232.

[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.

Last updated: 17 June 2022.