Platyseiinae

Cheiroseius phoretic on crane fly Erioptera cana, copyright Stephen Luk.

Belongs within: Phytoseioidea.

The Platyseiinae are a group of predatory mites often found in subaquatic or damp habitats. They typically have several large, acutely pointed structures at the ends of legs II–IV, including the pretarsal paradactyli and a median projection of the pulvillus. Many species have enlarged peritremes that function as plastrons when submerged (Lindquist et al. 2009). Species of the genus Platyseius have two to four pairs of J setae on the opisthonotum and sternal setae 1 are distinctly shorter than setae 3 whereas Cheiroseius species have five pairs of J setae on the opisthonotum and the sternal setae 1 and 3 are subequal in length (Evans & Till 1979).

<==Platyseiinae LKW09
    |--Cheiroseiulus LKW09
    |--Platyseius Berlese 1916 [incl. Paraseius Halbert 1915 non Trägårdh 1910, Plesiosejus Evans & Hyatt 1960] FH93
    |    |--P. subglaber (Oudemans 1903) FH93 (see below for synonymy)
    |    |--P. aequalis Schweizer 1949 S61
    |    |--P. basileus Schweizer 1961 S61
    |    |--P. corniger [=Lasioseius corniger, Epicrius corniger] S61
    |    |--P. echinatus Schweizer 1961 S61
    |    |--P. grimseli Schweizer 1961 S61
    |    |--P. handschini (Schweizer 1949) [=Episeius handschini] S61
    |    |--P. horridus (Evans & Hyatt 1960) [=Plesiosejus horridus] FH93
    |    |--P. italicus ET79 [=Episeius italicus S61]
    |    |--P. major LKW09
    |    |--P. michaeli S61
    |    |--P. mutilus [=Episeius mutilus] S61
    |    |--P. neocorniger S61
    |    |--P. ovaspini (Schweizer 1929) S61
    |    |--P. serratus (Halbert 1915) [=Paraseius serratus] S61
    |    |--P. tenuipes S61
    |    `--P. trupchumi Schweizer 1961 S61
    `--Cheiroseius Berlese 1916 ET79 [incl. Episeiella Willmann 1938 FH93, Episeius Hull 1918 FH93]
         |  i. s.: C. areolacus McDaniel & Bolen 1983 FH93
         |         C. browningi WK90
         |         C. cassiteridus (Evans & Hyatt 1960) [=Sejus cassiteridum] FH93
         |         C. curtipes (Halbert 1923) (see below for synonymy) FH93
         |         C. glaber WL89
         |         C. groenlandicus (Haarløv 1942) [=Episeius groenlandicus] FH93
         |         C. hurlbutti Baker, Delfinado & Abbatiello 1976 FH93
         |         C. mackerrasae (Womersley 1956) [=Platyseius mackerrasae] H98
         |         C. neborealis (Evans & Hyatt 1960) [=Sejus neborealis] FH93
         |         C. necorniger (Oudemans 1904) [=Hypoaspis necorniger] FH93
         |         C. parbatensis WL95
         |--C. (Cheiroseius) FH93
         |    |--*C. (C.) unguiculatus (Berlese 1887) [=Seius unguiculatus] ET79
         |    |--C. (C.) antillanus (Evans & Hyatt 1960) [=Sejus antillanus] FH93
         |    |--C. (C.) bellingeri (Evans & Hyatt 1960) [=Sejus bellingeri] FH93
         |    |--C. (C.) borealis (Berlese 1904) [=Ameroseius borealis; incl. Episeius montanus Willmann 1949] FH93
         |    |--C. (C.) greeneae (De Leon 1964) [=Sejus greeneae] FH93
         |    |--C. (C.) hulli (Evans & Hyatt 1960) [=Sejus hulli] FH93
         |    |--C. (C.) nasutus Karg 1981 FH93
         |    `--C. (C.) tennesseensis (De Leon 1964) [=Sejus tennesseensis; incl. C. flagellatus Karg 1979] FH93
         `--C. (Posttrematus) FH93
              |--C. (P.) cascadensis (De Leon 1964) [=Sejus cascadensis] FH93
              |--C. (P.) floridianus (De Leon 1964) [=Sejus floridianus] FH93
              |--C. (P.) guthriei (Ewing 1913) FH93 (see below for synonymy)
              |--C. (P.) insculptus (Keegan 1946) [=Pachyseius insculpta] FH93
              |--C. (P.) laelaptoides (Berlese 1887) (see below for synonymy) FH93
              |--C. (P.) mutilus (Berlese 1916) [=Lasioseius mutilus] FH93
              `--C. (P.) nodosus (Evans & Hyatt 1960) [=Sejus nodosus] FH93

Cheiroseius curtipes (Halbert 1923) [=Lasioseius (Episeius) glaber var. curtipes; incl. Episeius ovaspini Schweizer 1949] FH93

Cheiroseius (Posttrematus) guthriei (Ewing 1913) FH93 [=Podocinum guthriei FH93; incl. Sejus jamaicensis Evans & Hyatt 1960 FH93, Cheiroseius jamaicensis WL95]

Cheiroseius (Posttrematus) laelaptoides (Berlese 1887) [=Epicrius laelaptoides; incl. Parasejus glaber var. minor Trägårdh 1910, Lasioseius (Episeius) sphagni] FH93

Platyseius subglaber (Oudemans 1903) FH93 [=Hypoaspis subglabra FH93; incl. Lasioseius (*Platyseius) capillatus Berlese 1916 ET79, FH93, L. listrophorus Schweizer 1924 FH93]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[ET79] Evans, G. O., & W. M. Till. 1979. Mesostigmatic mites of Britain and Ireland (Chelicerata: Acari-Parasitiformes). An introduction to their external morphology and classification. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 35: 139–270.

[FH93] Farrier, M. H., & M. K. Hennessey. 1993. Soil-inhabiting and free-living Mesostigmata (Acari-Parasitiformes) from North America: an annotated checklist with bibliography and index. North Carolina Agricultural Research Service, North Carolina State University, Technical Bulletin 302: i–xvi, 1–408.

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

[LKW09] Lindquist, E. E., G. W. Krantz & D. E. Walter. 2009. Order Mesostigmata. In: Krantz, G. W., & D. E. Walter (eds) A Manual of Acarology 3^rd ed. pp. 124–232. Texas Tech University Press.

[S61] Schweizer, J. 1961. Die Landmilben der Schweiz (Mittelland, Jura und Alpen): Parasitiformes Reuter, mit 246 Arten und Varietäten und 268 meist kombinierten Originalzeichnungen. Denkschriften der Schweizerischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft [Mémoires de la Société Helvétique des Sciences Naturelles] 84: i–vii, 1–207.

[WK90] Walter, D. E., & D. T. Kaplan. 1990. Antagonists of plant-parasitic nematodes in Florida citrus. Journal of Nematology 22 (4): 567–573.

[WL89] Walter, D. E., & E. E. Lindquist. 1989. Life history and behavior of mites in the genus Lasioseius (Acari: Mesostigmata: Ascidae) from grassland soils in Colorado, with taxonomic notes and description of a new species. Canadian Journal of Zoology 67: 2797–2813.

[WL95] Walter, D. E., & E. E. Lindquist. 1995. The distributions of parthenogenetic ascid mites (Acari: Parasitiformes) do not support the biotic uncertainty hypothesis. Experimental and Applied Acarology 19: 423–442.

Last updated: 18 April 2021.