Cheyletini

Dorsal view of Hemicheyletia wellsi, copyright Qing-Hai Fan.

Belongs within: Cheyletidae.
Contains: Cheyletus.

The Cheyletini is a group of predatory mites found free-living or in association with animal nests. The group is characterised by plesiomorphic characters for the family Cheyletidae and is potentially paraphyletic with regard to other subgroups of the family. The southern Asian genus Hylopecheyla is parasitic, found in association with squirrels and tree shrews, and possesses relatively short tarsi. The genera Tutacheyla, Laeliocheyletia, Cheletomimus and Hemicheyletia form a group of genera with relatively short legs, four setae on the palpal femur and very short guard setae on tarsi I, typically found living on trees (Bochkov & Fain 2001).

See also: The tiny lurking fear.

Characters (from Bochkov & Fain 2001): Female with gnathosoma well developed, about 30%, or more, length of idiosoma, without protrusions. Gnathosomal apex with short median protuberances. Palpai tarsi with two dorsal comb-like setae and two ventral well-developed sickle-like setae. Palpai slender, claws slightly curved medially, with or without teeth. All setae of palpal tibia hair-like or lanceolate. Palpal femur and palpal genu not fused, without protrusions, bearing altogether five setae. Idiosoma ovoid or rhombus-like. Eyes present or absent. Shoulder-like projections of idiosoma absent. All idiosomal setae not exceeding half of idiosomal length. Neotrichial setae present or absent. Length of all legs not exceeding idiosomal length. Legs IV normally developed. Tarsi slender, with knobs not covering pretarsus or without knobs. Guard seta of tarsus I hair-like, variable in length, solenidion ω1 situated in basal half of tarsus I. Tibia I with solenidion. Tibia II with or without solenidion. Genu I with rod-like solenidion. Seta vI of tarsus I situated almost at same level as solenidion ω1 and guard seta. Pretarsus and claws present on all legs. Apical setae of tarsus I normally long. Tarsal setae p' and p" II-IV hair-like. Coxae III with two setae. Trochanters I-IV with one seta. Distance between coxae II and III less than half of idiosomal width. Male with palpal tarsus with two comb-like and two sickle-like setae.

<==Cheyletini
    |  i. s.: Cheletophyes Oudemans 1904 BF01
    |           |--*C. vitzthumi Oudemans 1914 B49
    |           |--C. apicola WB02
    |           |--C. hawaiiensis Baker 1949 B49
    |           |--C. marshalli Baker 1949 B49
    |           |--C. philippinensis Baker 1949 B49
    |           `--C. semenovi Kuzin in Rodendorf 1940 B49
    |         Lepidocheyla Volgin 1963 BF01
    |         Anthribicheyla BF01
    |--Hylopecheyla Fain 1972 BF01
    |--Paracheyletiella Kuznetsov 1977 BF01
    |--Nodele Muma 1964 BF01
    |    `--N. calamondin Muma 1964 E-VVM-M07
    |--Paracheyletia Volgin 1955 BF01
    |    |--P. assimilis E62
    |    |--P. pyriformis E62
    |    |--P. virginiensis E62
    |    `--P. wellsi E62
    |--+--Cheletacarus Volgin 1961 BF01
    |  |    `--C. rugosus (Womersley 1941) [=Cheletophanes rugosa, Cheletonella rugosa] H98
    |  `--Cheletophanes Oudemans 1904 BF01
    |       |--*C. montandoni (Berlese & Trouessart 1889) [=Cheyletus montandoni] B49
    |       `--C. peregrinus Berlese 1921 B49
    |--+--Ker Muma 1964 BF01
    |  |    |--K. palmatus E-KO07
    |  |    `--K. summersi A-T96
    |  `--Pavlovskicheyla Volgin 1965 BF01
    |       |--P. platydemae Thewke & Enns 1975 BF01
    |       `--P. semenovi BF01
    |--+--Zachvatkiniola Volgin 1969 BF01
    |  |--Camincheyletus Smiley & Whitaker 1981 BF01
    |  |--Cheyletus BF01
    |  |--Cheletonella Womersley 1941 BF01
    |  |    `--*C. vespertilionis Womersley 1941 B49
    |  `--Eucheyletia Baker 1949 BF01
    |       |--*E. bishoppi Baker 1949 B49
    |       |--E. flabellifera (Michael 1878) (see below for synonymy) B49
    |       |--E. hardyi Baker 1949 B49
    |       |--E. harpyia (Rodendorf 1940) [=Cheyletia harpyia] B49
    |       `--E. womersleyi Volgin 1963 H98
    `--+--Tutacheyla Corpuz-Raros 1972 BF01
       |--Laeliocheyletia Summers & Price 1970 BF01
       |--Cheletomimus Oudemans 1904 BF01
       |    |--C. berlesei Oudemans 1904 H98 [=Cheletes berlesei B49; incl. *Cheletomimus trux Oudemans 1904 B49]
       |    `--C. wellsigi DPD16
       `--Hemicheyletia Volgin 1969 BF01
            |--H. anarbora TE79
            |--H. bakeri (Ehara 1962) [=Paracheyletia bakeri] H98
            |--H. bregatovae TE79
            |--H. congensis TE79
            |--H. cordovensis TE79
            |--H. darwinia Summers & Price 1970 TE79
            |--H. granula TE79
            |--H. kysenyiensis Thewke & Enns 1979 TE79
            |--H. lindquisti Thewke & Enns 1979 TE79
            |--H. mexicana Thewke & Enns 1979 TE79
            |--H. reticulata TE79
            |--H. rostella TE79
            |--H. scitula Corpuz-Raros 1972 C-RSV-S88
            |--H. scutellata TE79
            |--H. serrula TE79
            |--H. volgini TE79
            |--H. wellsi (Baker 1949) TE79 [=Cheyletia wellsi H98]
            `--H. wellsina TE79

Eucheyletia flabellifera (Michael 1878) [=Cheyletus flabellifer, Cheletia flabellifera, Cheyletus (Cheyletia) flabellifer] B49

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A-T96] Abo-Taka, S. M. 1996. Mites inhabiting poultry farms in Egypt. In: Mitchell, R., D. J. Horn, G. R. Needham & W. C. Welbourn (eds) Acarology IX vol. 1. Proceedings pp. 97–99. Ohio Biological Survey: Columbus (Ohio).

[B49] Baker, E. W. 1949. A review of the mites of the family Cheyletidae in the United States National Museum. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 99 (3238): 267–320.

[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.

[C-RSV-S88] Corpuz-Raros, L. A., G. C. Sabio & M. Velasco-Soriano. 1988. Mites associated with stored products, poultry houses and house dust in the Philippines. Philippine Entomologist 7 (3): 311–321.

[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.

[E62] Ehara, S. 1962. Mites of greenhouse plants in Hokkaido, with a new species of Cheyletidae. Annotationes Zoologicae Japonenses 35 (2): 106–111.

[E-KO07] El-Kammah, K. M., & L. M. I. Oyoun. 2007. Taxonomic records of mite species associated with animal and poultry farms in the Nile delta, vally and N. Sinai Egypt. 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. 223–232. Instituto de Biología and Faculdad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Sociedad Latinoamericana de Acarología: México.

[E-VVM-M07] Estrada-Venegas, E. G., I. M. Vázquez & J. A. Moreno-Moreno. 2007. Prostigmatid mites (Acarida: Prostigmata) in decaying wood from “La Mancha” Veracruz, Mexico. 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. 691–695. Instituto de Biología and Faculdad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Sociedad Latinoamericana de Acarología: México.

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

[TE79] Thewke, S. E., & W. R. Enns. 1979. Three new species of Hemicheyletia Volgin (Acarina: Cheyletidae) with a key to known world species. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 52 (1): 218–225.

[WB02] Walter, D. E., J. J. Beard, K. L. Walker & K. Sparks. 2002. Of mites and bees: a review of mite-bee associations in Australia and a revision of Raymentia Womersley (Acari: Mesostigmata: Laelapidae), with the description of two new species of mites from Lasioglossum (Parasphecodes) spp. (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). Australian Journal of Entomology 41: 128–148.

Last updated: 19 June 2022.