Desmonomata

Dorsum (left) and venter of Holonothrus venetiolanus, from Norton & Behan-Pelletier (2009).

Belongs within: Acariformes.
Contains: Hermanniidae, Astigmatina, Malaconothridae, Nothridae, Nanhermanniidae, Camisia, Crotonia, Brachypylina, Trhypochthoniidae.

The Desmonomata have been recognised as a group of oribatid mites with a holoid body form, in which epimera II and III are fused and the sejugal furrow is absent ventrally, in combination with an undivided notogaster and legs in which the genua are not reduced to a knee-like segment. With the exception of the Hermanniidae, most Desmonomata in this sense also have a macropyline venter, in which the large genital and anal plates occupy almost the entire venter posterior to the epimeres. However, phylogenetic analyses have established that the Desmonomata sensu stricto is paraphyletic with regard to the Brachypylina (or Circumdehiscentiae; 'higher' oribatid mites) and the Astigmatina (previously recognised as a separate group from the Oribatida), both of which share the holoid body form. The dichoid genus Collohmannia, including large mites characterised a dorsally and ventrally convex hysterosoma and flagellate and particularly elongate setae d2, h2 and p1, was also placed within the desmonomatan clade by Pachl et al. (2017). Many Desmonomata, including the families Malaconothridae, Camisiidae, Trhypochthoniidae and the genus Nothrus, are parthenogenetic, though the Crotoniidae and the other genera of Nothridae are sexual (Norton & Behan-Pelletier 2009).

<==Desmonomata (see below for synonymy) DW10
    |--+--Hermanniidae DW10
    |  `--Astigmatina DW10
    `--+--+--Malaconothridae PL17
       |  `--Nothridae PL17
       `--+--+--Nanhermanniidae PL17
          |  `--+--Camisiidae [Camisiinae] PL17
          |     |    |--Camisia ME09
          |     |    |--Austronothrus Hammer 1966 S04
          |     |    |    `--*A. curviseta Hammer 1966 S04
          |     |    `--Eocamisia sukatshevae B86
          |     `--Crotoniidae [Crotonides] NB-P09
          |          |--Crotonia ME09
          |          `--Holonothrus Wallwork 1963 [Holonothridae] S04
          |               |--*H. foliatus Wallwork 1963 S04
          |               |--H. artus Olszanowski 1999 S04
          |               |--H. concavus Wallwork 1966 S04
          |               |--H. gracilis Olszanowski 1997 S04
          |               |--H. mitis Olszanowski 1991 S04
          |               |--H. naskreckii Olszanowski 1997 S04
          |               |--H. nortoni Olszanowski 1999 S04
          |               |--H. novaecaledoniae Olszanowski 1997 S04
          |               |--H. papua Balogh & Balogh 1986 S04
          |               |--H. pulcher Hammer 1966 S04
          |               |--H. robustus Olszanowski 1991 S04
          |               |--H. venetiolanus Olszanowski 1999 S04
          |               `--H. virungensis Norton & Olszanowski 1989 S04
          `--+--Brachypylina PL17
             `--+--Collohmannia Sellnick 1922 PL17, S04 (see below for synonymy)
                |    |--*C. gigantea Sellnick 1922 [incl. C. nova Sellnick 1932] S04
                |    `--C. asiatica Krivolutsky & Christov 1970 S04
                `--Trhypochthoniidae PL17

Collohmannia Sellnick 1922 PL17, S04 [incl. Phthiracaroides Storkán 1923 B65; Collohmanniidae, Collohmannioidea]

Desmonomata [Comalida, Crotonioidea, Desmonomatides, Holosomata, Holosomatina, Malaconothroidea, Nothrina, Nothrinae, Nothronata] DW10

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B65] Balogh, J. 1965. A synopsis of the world oribatid (Acari) genera. Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 11 (1–2): 5–99.

[B86] Bernini, F. 1986. Current ideas on the phylogeny and the adaptive radiations of Acarida. Bolletino di Zoologia 53: 279–313.

[DW10] Dabert, M., W. Witalinski, A. Kazmierski, Z. Olszanowski & J. Dabert. 2010. Molecular phylogeny of acariform mites (Acari, Arachnida): strong conflict between phylogenetic signal and long-branch attraction artifacts. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 56 (1): 222–241.

[ME09] Maraun, M., G. Erdmann, G. Schulz, R. A. Norton, S. Scheu & K. Domes. 2009. Multiple convergent evolution of arboreal life in oribatid mites indicates the primacy of ecology. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B—Biological Sciences 276: 3219–3227.

[NB-P09] Norton, R. A., & V. M. Behan-Pelletier. 2009. Suborder Oribatida. In: Krantz, G. W., & D. E. Walter (eds) A Manual of Acarology 3^rd ed. pp. 430–564. Texas Tech University Press.

[PL17] Pachl, P., A. C. Lindl, A. Krause, S. Scheu, I. Schaefer & M. Maraun. 2017. The tropics as an ancient cradle of oribatid mite diversity. Acarologia 57 (2): 309–322.

[S04] Subías, L. S. 2004. Listado sistemático, sinonímico y biogeográfico de los ácaros oribátidos (Acariformes, Oribatida) del mundo (1758–2002). Graellsia 60 (número extraordinario): 3–305.

Last updated: 9 January 2019.