Cheyletoidea

Dog follicle mite Demodex canis, copyright Kalumet.

Belongs within: Eleutherengonides.
Contains: Cheyletidae, Myobiidae.

The Cheyletoidea are a group of mites that are commonly parasitic on vertebrates. Representatives include the vermiform Demodicidae which inhabit the hair follicles of mammals, feeding on epithelial and sebaceous gland cells (Walter et al. 2009).

See also: Your little friends that are with you always.

Characters (from Walter et al. 2009): Soft bodied but often with weak dorsal shields. Gnathosoma well defined, composed of cheliceral stylophore either free from subcapitulum or fused into gnathosomatic capsule; movable cheliceral digits styliform, needle-like, retractile, approximate terminally; palpi variously developed, often reduced with fused tibiotarsus and femorogenu, or telescoped, sometimes large and armed with a distinctive tibial claw; postcheliceral stigmata and peritremes present in free-living and some parasitic forms but absent in many parasites; with present, peritremes at base of chelicerae or on dorsal surface of gnathosomatic capsule, dorsal cheliceral seta rd absent in larva. Prodorsum lacking anteromedian naso, typically with four pairs of setae, none inserted in bothridia; eyes present or absent. Opisthosoma with 0 to many setae dorsally and laterally, with or without postlarval setal additions or hypertrichy dorsally; cupules (lyrifissures) absent; elements of opisthosomatic segments AD absent. Larval urstigma and postlarval genital papilla absent. Claws always present on tarsi II, and usually on tarsi III-IV unless legs are reduced or absent, claws present or absent on tarsus I; empodia present or absent, often with tenent hairs; genua and tibiae of all legs with a maximum of three setae; solenidion of genu I present or absent. Female genital opening ventral, terminal or dorsal, free from or fused to anal opening; oviporus adjacent to or fused with genital opening. Male with terminal or dorsal genito-anal opening. Usually four active postembryonic instars including larva, two nymphal instars, and adult. Developmental stases may be apodous, or postlarval stases may be hexapod.

<==Cheyletoidea [Demodicoidea, Lipostigmata]
    |--+--Cheyletidae BF01
    |  `--Syringophilidae BF01
    |       |  i. s.: Syringophiloides minor WP99
    |       |         Syringophilopsis Kethley 1970 H98
    |       |         Aulonastus K09
    |       |         Crotophagisyringophilus DPD16
    |       |         Torotrogia merulae DPD16
    |       |--Syringophilus Heller 1880 H98 [Syringophilinae WL09]
    |       |    |--S. bipectinatus Heller 1880 SMD01
    |       |    `--S. columbae L55
    |       `--Picobiinae WL09
    |            |--Calamincola lobatus (Castro 1977) WL09, SMD01
    |            `--Picobia SMD01
    |                 |--P. dryobates (Fritsch 1958) [=Syringophilus dryobates] SMD01
    |                 |--P. dziabaszewskii DPD16
    |                 |--P. khulkhshani (Kivganov & Sharafat 1995) SMD01
    |                 `--P. polonica Skoracki, Magowski & Dabert 2001 SMD01
    `--+--Myobiidae DPD16
       `--Demodicidae [Demodecidae, Demodides] DPD16
            |--Rhinodex Fain 1959 B91
            |--Pterodex Lukoschus, Woeltjes et al. 1980 B91
            |--Soricidex Bukva 1982 B91
            |--Stomatodex Fain 1959 B91
            |    `--S. cercarteti Desch 1991 [=Demodex cercateti] H98
            |--Ophthalmodex Lukoschus & Nutting 1980 B91
            |    |--O. australiensis Woeltjes & Lukoschus 1981 [=Opthalmodex (l. c.) australiensis] H98
            |    |--O. molossi WL09
            |    `--O. wilsoni Woeltjes & Lukoschus 1981 H98
            `--Demodex Owen 1843 B91
                 |--D. acutipes B91
                 |--D. antechini Nutting & Sweatman 1970 H98
                 |--D. aurati N91
                 |--D. bicaudatus Kniest & Lukoschus 1981 H98
                 |--D. bovis Stiles 1892 B91 [=D. folliculorum var. bovis H98]
                 |--D. brevis Akbulatova 1963 B91 [=D. folliculorum var. brevis H98]
                 |--D. canis Leydig 1859 H98
                 |--D. caprae Railliet 1893 [=D. folliculorum var. caprae] H98
                 |--D. cati Mégnin 1877 [=D. folliculorum var. cati] H98
                 |--D. criceti N91
                 |--D. equi Railliet 1893 [=D. folliculorum var. equi] H98
                 |--D. flagellurus Bukva 1985 B91
                 |--D. folliculorum (Simon 1842) B91 [=Acarus folliculorum H98]
                 |--D. kutzeri Bukva 1987 B91
                 |--D. longissimus WL09
                 |--D. macroglossi Desch 1981 H98
                 |--D. melesinus H23
                 |--D. nanus Hirst 1918 B91
                 |--D. odocoilei N91
                 |--D. ovis Hirst 1919 B91 [=D. canis var. ovis H98]
                 |--D. phylloides Csokor 1879 H98
                 |--D. rosus Bukva 1985 B91
                 |--D. sabani Desch, Lukoschus & Nadchatram 1984 B91
                 |--D. sciurinus Hirst 1923 H23
                 |--D. tauri Bukva 1986 B91
                 `--D. zalophi Dailey & Nutting 1980 H98

Cheyletoidea incertae sedis:
  Psorergatidae BF01
    |--Psorergatoides Fain 1959 H98
    |    `--P. australiensis Giesen et al. 1982 H98
    |--Psorergates WL09
    |    |--P. glaucomys WL09
    |    `--P. talpae WL09
    `--Psorobia Fain 1959 H98
         |--P. bos WL09
         |--P. foinae WL09
         |--P. mustelae WL09
         `--P. ovis (Womersley 1941) [=Psorergates ovis] H98
  Harpirhynchidae [Ophioptidae] BF01
    |--Harpypalpinae WL09
    |--Harpyrhynchus Mégnin 1877 WL09, H98 [Harpirhynchinae WL09, Harpyrhynchinae]
    |    |--H. kakatoe Fain 1972 [=Harpirhynchus kakatoe] H98
    |    |--H. monstrosus Fritsch 1954 [=Harpirhynchus monstrosus] H98
    |    |--H. novoplumaris WL09
    |    `--H. rosellacinus Lawrence 1959 [=Harpirhynchus rosellacinus] H98
    `--Ophioptes Sambon 1928 H98 [Ophioptinae WL09]
         |--O. parkeri WL09
         |--O. samboni Southcott 1956 H98
         |--O. southcotti WL09
         `--O. tropicalis WL09

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BF01] Bochkov, A. V., & A. Fain. 2001. Phylogeny and system of the Cheyletidae (Acari: Prostigmata) with special reference to their host-parasite associations. Bulletin de l’Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique Entomologie 71: 5–36.

[B91] Bukva, V. 1991. Structural reduction and topological retrieval: problems in taxonomy of Demodicidae. 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. 293–300. SPB Academic Publishing: The Hague.

[DPD16] Dabert, M., H. Proctor & J. Dabert. 2016. Higher-level molecular phylogeny of the water mites (Acariformes: Prostigmata: Parasitengonina: Hydrachnidiae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 101: 75–90.

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

[H23] Hirst, S. 1923. On some new or little-known species of Acari. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1923: 971–1000.

[K09] Krantz, G. W. 2009. Habits and habitats. In: Krantz, G. W., & D. E. Walter (eds) A Manual of Acarology 3^rd ed. pp. 64–82. Texas Tech University Press.

[L55] Lavoipierre, M. M. J. 1955. On two new species and new records of Acarina mainly from the Ethiopian region. Parasitology 45 (1–2): 121–127.

[N91] Nutting, W. B. 1991. Demodecosis, treatment and prevention. 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. 309–317. SPB Academic Publishing: The Hague.

[SMD01] Skoracki, M., W. Magowski & J. Dabert. 2001. Picobia polonica sp. n. (Acari: Prostigmata: Syringophilidae), a new species of quill mite from the domestic hen, Gallus gallus domesticus (Aves: Phasianidae). Folia Parasitologica 48: 154–158.

[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.

[WP99] Walter, D. E., & H. C. Proctor. 1999. Mites: Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour. CABI Publishing: Wallingford (UK).

Last updated: 19 June 2022.