Tenuipalpidae

Pineapple false spider mite Dolichotetranychus floridanus, from here.

Belongs within: Tetranychoidea.
Contains: Tenuipalpus, Brevipalpus, Aegyptobia.

The Tenuipalpidae, false spider mites, are a group of slow-moving phytophagous mites characterised by reduction of the palp and loss of the thumb-claw complex. Some species are economically significant pests. They are most diverse in tropical and subtropical regions though some tropical species have become more widespread in greenhouses (Walter et al. 2009). They have been divided between three subfamilies with the gnathosoma completely covered by the propodosoma and a rostral shield absent in the Tegopalpinae (Smiley & Gerson 1996). Members of the Brevipalpinae have both pairs of intercoxal setae IC₃ and IC₄ situated on the hysterosoma whereas Tenuipalpinae have IC₄ on the hysterosoma and IC₃ on the posterior part of the propodosoma (Baker & Tuttle 1987). Within the Tenuipalpinae, members of the genus Ultratenuipalpus possess four-segmented palpi, postanal setae, one pair of anal and two pairs of intercoxal setae (Baker & Tuttle 1987).

Characters (from Walter et al. 2009): Cheliceral bases fused into movable stylophore, attached to idiosoma by retractable ribbed collar; movable cheliceral digits elongated, whip-like, recurved basally within stylophore. Palp linear, with five or fewer segments and lacking a thumb-claw process. Prodorsum with three pairs of setae (v1 absent), without prodorsal bothridial setae; opisthosoma with at most thirteen pairs of setae dorsally and laterally (c1 usually present, c4 absent, two pairs h setae); anal valves with 1-3 pairs of simple pseudanal setae. Pretarsal claws with tenent hairs.

<==Tenuipalpidae [Phytoptipalpidae, Tenuipalpini]
    |--Tenuipalpinae BT87
    |    |--Tenuipalpus BT72
    |    `--Ultratenuipalpus Mitrofanov 1973 BT87, H98
    |         |--*U. meekeri (De Leon 1957) [=Tenuipalpus meekeri] BT87
    |         |--U. bunyai Smiley & Gerson 1995 H98
    |         `--U. younguisti Baker & Tuttle 1987 BT87
    |--Tegopalpinae SG96
    |    |--Tegopalpus Womersley 1940 H98
    |    |    `--*T. conicus Womersley 1940 SG96
    |    |--Philippipalpus Corpuz-Raros 1978 SG96
    |    |    `--*P. agohoi Corpuz-Raros 1978 SG96
    |    `--Australopalpus Smiley & Gerson 1995 SG96
    |         `--*A. alphitoniae Smiley & Gerson 1995 SG96
    `--Brevipalpinae BT87
         |--Brevipalpus BT72
         |--Aegyptobia BT87
         |--Priscapalpus De Leon 1961 BT87, BTA75
         |    |--*P. macropilis De Leon 1961 BT87
         |    `--P. cherretti [=*Deleoniella cherretti] BT87
         |--Pseudoleptus Bruyant 1911 BT87, BT72
         |    |--*P. arechavaletae Bruyant 1911 BT87
         |    |--P. bouteloua Baker & Tuttle 1972 BT72
         |    |--P. hilaria Baker & Tuttle 1972 BT72
         |    |--P. palustria Pritchard & Baker 1952 BTA75
         |    |--P. panicum Baker & Tuttle 1972 BT72
         |    |--P. tridens Baker & Tuttle 1972 BT72
         |    `--P. zelihae SG96
         |--Pentamerismus McGregor 1949 [incl. Livshitzia Mitrofanov 1973, Oligomerismus Mitrofanov 1973] BT87
         |    |  i. s.: P. tauricus [=*Livshitzia taurica] BT87
         |    |         ‘Tenuipalpus’ taxi [=*Oligomerismus taxi] BT87
         |    |--P. erythreus group BT87
         |    |    |--*P. erythreus (Ewing 1917) [=Tenuipalpus erythreus] BT72
         |    |    |--P. abnormis Baker & Tuttle 1987 BT87
         |    |    `--P. arbutusae Baker & Tuttle 1987 BT87
         |    `--P. oregonensis McGregor 1949 BT87
         |--Phytoptipalpus Trägårdh 1904 BT87, BP60
         |    |  i. s.: P. aegyptetrapodus [=*Zaheria aegyptetrapodus] BT87
         |    |         P. albizziae Pritchard & Baker 1958 BP60 [=*Neophytoptipalpus albizziae BT87]
         |    |--*P. paradoxus Trägårdh 1904 BT87
         |    `--P. cercidium group BT87
         |         |--P. ceibae (De Leon 1962) [=Aegyptobia ceibae] BT87
         |         |--P. cercidium (Baker, Tuttle & Abbatiello 1975) [=Aegyptobia cercidium] BT87
         |         `--P. conostegiae Baker & Tuttle 1987 BT87
         `--Dolichotetranychus Sayed 1938 [(see below for synonymy) BT87
              |--*D. floridanus (Banks 1900) (see below for synonymy) BT87
              |--D. ancistrus Baker & Pritchard 1956 BT72
              |--D. apaches Baker & Pritchard 1956 BT72
              |--D. australianus (Womersley 1943) [=Trichadenus australianus] H98
              |--‘Siteroptes’ carnea [=*Stenotetranychus carneus] BT87
              |--D. macer Baker & Pritchard 1956 BP60
              |--D. muhlenbergia Baker & Tuttle 1972 BT72
              |--D. summersi [=D. (*Dolichotetranychoides) summersi] BT87
              `--D. vandergooti WL09

Tenuipalpidae incertae sedis:
  Larvacarus transitans WL09
  Rarosiella cocosae C-R02
  Obdulia tamaricis WL09
  Obuloides rajamohani WL09
  Capedulia maritima WL09
  Raoiellana Baker & Tuttle 1972 BT72
    `--*R. allium Baker & Tuttle 1972 BT72
  Lisaepalpus Smiley & Gerson 1995 H98
    `--L. smileyae Smiley & Gerson 1995 H98
  Macfarlaniella Baker & Pritchard 1962 H98
    `--M. queenslandica (Womersley 1942) [=Raoiella queenslandica] H98
  Phyllotetranychus Sayed 1938 BP60
    |--P. aegyptiacus Sayed 1938 [=P. aegyptium] BP60
    `--P. romaine Pritchard & Baker 1958 BP60
  Meyeraepalpus Smiley et al. 1996 H98
    |--M. delfinadae Smiley et al. 1996 H98
    `--M. strandtmanni Smiley et al. 1996 H98
  Raoiella Hirst 1924 H98
    |--R. australica Womersley 1940 H98
    |--R. indica Hirst 1924 BP60
    `--R. macfarlanei G01
  Crossipalpus Smiley et al. 1996 H98
    |--C. creelae Smiley et al. 1996 H98
    |--C. muellerianae Smiley et al. 1996 H98
    `--C. verticillatae Smiley et al. 1996 H98
  Terminalichus SG96
  Tenuilichus Mohanasundaran 1988 SG96
  Afronychus SG96
  Coleoacarus SG96
  Krugeria SG96

Dolichotetranychus Sayed 1938 [incl. Dolichotetranychoides Mitrofanov 1973, Stenotetranychus Mitrofanov 1973] BT87

*Dolichotetranychus floridanus (Banks 1900) [=Stigmaeus floridanus, Pseudoleptus floridanus, Trichadenus floridanus] BT87

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BP60] Baker, E. W., & A. E. Pritchard. 1960. The tetranychoid mites of Africa. Hilgardia 29 (11): 455–574.

[BT72] Baker, E. W., & D. M. Tuttle. 1972. New species and further notes on the Tetranychoidea mostly from the southwestern United States (Acarina: Tetranychidae and Tenuipalpidae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 116: 1–37.

[BT87] Baker, E. W., & D. M. Tuttle. 1987. The false spider mites of Mexico (Tenuipalpidae: Acari). United States Department of Agriculture, Technical Bulletin 1706: 1–237.

[BTA75] Baker, E. W., D. M. Tuttle & M. J. Abbatiello. 1975. The false spider mites of northwestern and north central Mexico (Acarina: Tenuipalpidae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 194: 1–23.

[C-R02] Corpuz-Raros, L. A. 2002. Philippine acarine biological control agents: status, bioecology and research prospects. Philippine Agricultural Scientist 85 (2): 137–154.

[G01] Gupta, S. K. 2001. A conspectus of natural enemies of phytophagous mites and mites as potential biocontrol agents of agricultural pests in India. 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. 484–497. CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne.

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

[SG96] Smiley, R. L, & U. Gerson. 1996. Observations on the Tenuipalpidae (Prostigmata) and a new subfamily classification. In: Mitchell, R., D. J. Horn, G. R. Needham & W. C. Welbourn (eds) Acarology IX vol. 1. Proceedings pp. 367–371. Ohio Biological Survey: Columbus (Ohio).

[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: 22 June 2022.