Melicharidae

Rhinoseius females collected phoretic on hummingbirds, from Ramos et al. (2019).

Belongs within: Gamasina.
Contains: Proctolaelaps (Proctolaelaps).

The Melicharidae are an ecologically diverse group of mesostigmatan mites, including predatory, fungivorous and flower-feedings species. The predatory species Melichares agilis and Proctolaelaps pomorum are cosmopolitan in cultivated soil and stored foods, feeding on eggs and immatures of acarid mites (Lindquist et al. 2009).

Characters (from Lindquist et al. 2009): Deutonymphs and adults with dorsal shield setae J1 present; fixed cheliceral digit with pilus dentilis modified to a hyaline flap; movable cheliceral digit usually with a pointed process (mucro) on its mid-ventral face; peritrematic shield of adults free posteriorly from, or narrowly attached to, exopodal plate beside coxa IV; female with laelapid-type sperm access system, lacking a sclerotized spermathecal calyx and associated minor duct, epigynal shield gently rounded posteriorly, third pair of sternal poroids off sternal shield and associated with sternal setae st4, usually with an oval or elliptical anal shield bearing only the three anal setae (or rarely expanded to capture the nearest pair of opisthogastric setae); male with endopodal strips beside coxae III–IV fully integrated with sternitigenital shield.

<==Melicharidae [Melicharini] LKW09
    |--Mycolaelaps maxinae LKW09
    |--Xanthippe clavisetosa CN99
    |--Mucroseius Lindquist 1962 LKW09, FH93
    |    |--*M. monochami Lindquist 1962 LW91 [=Melichares monochami FH93]
    |    |--M. aciculatus (Ishikawa 1968) [=Proctolaelaps aciculatus] LW91
    |    |--M. algonquian Lindquist & Wu 1991 LW91
    |    |--M. californicus Lindquist & Wu 1991 LW91
    |    |--M. disparisetus Lindquist & Wu 1991 LW91
    |    |--M. mexicanus Lindquist & Wu 1991 LW91
    |    |--M. nipponensis Lindquist & Wu 1991 LW91
    |    `--M. squamosus Lindquist & Wu 1991 LW91
    |--Tropicoseius Baker & Yunker 1964 LKW09, FH93
    |    |--T. braziliensis CN99
    |    |--T. colwelli CN99
    |    |--T. fuentesi LKW09
    |    `--T. wetmorei Baker & Yunker 1964 LKW09, FH93 [=Rhinoseius wetmorei FH93]
    |--Melichares Hering 1838 [incl. Garmania Nesbitt 1951, Orolaelaps De Leon 1963] FH93
    |    |--*M. agilis Hering 1838 ET79 [incl. Typhlodromus domesticus Oudemans 1929 FH93, *Garmania domestica E57]
    |    |--M. bombophila (Westerboer in Stammer 1963) [=Garmania (Garmaniella) bombophila] FH93
    |    |--M. grandis Chant 1963 FH93
    |    |--M. juradaeus (Schweizer 1949) [=Lasioseius juradaeus; incl. Proctolaelaps robustus Evans 1958] FH93
    |    `--M. quisqualis (De Leon 1963) [=Orolaelaps quisqualis] FH93
    |--Rhinoseius Baker & Yunker 1964 LKW09, FH93
    |    |--R. bakeri (Dusbábek & Černy 1970) [=Tropicoseius bakeri] FH93
    |    |--R. bisacculatus Fain, Hyland & Aitken 1977 FH93
    |    |--R. changensis (Baker & Yunker 1964) [=Tropicoseius changensis] FH93
    |    |--R. chiriquensis (Baker & Yunker 1964) [=Tropicoseius chiriquensis] FH93
    |    |--R. colwelli Hunter 1972 FH93
    |    |--R. eisenmanni (Baker & Yunker 1964) [=Tropicoseius eisenmanni] FH93
    |    |--R. epoecus Colwell & Naeem 1979 FH93
    |    |--R. erro (Baker & Yunker 1964) [=Tropicoseius erro] FH93
    |    |--R. fairchildi (Baker & Yunker 1964) [=Tropicoseius fairchildi] FH93
    |    |--R. heliconiae (Baker & Yunker 1964) [=Tropicoseius heliconiae] FH93
    |    |--R. mathewsoni Hyland, Fain & Moorhose 1978 FH93
    |    |--R. peregrinator (Baker & Yunker 1964) [=Tropicoseius peregrinator] FH93
    |    |--R. phaethornis Fain, Hyland & Aitken 1977 FH93
    |    |--R. phoreticus Fain, Hyland & Aitken 1977 FH93
    |    |--R. rafinskii CN99
    |    |--R. richardsoni Hunter 1972 FH93
    |    |--R. tiptoni Baker & Yunker 1964 FH93
    |    |--R. trinitatis Fain, Hyland & Aitken 1977 FH93
    |    `--R. venezuelensis (Baker & Yunker 1964) [=Tropicoseius venezuelensis] FH93
    `--Proctolaelaps Berlese 1923 LKW09, FH93 (see below for synonymy)
         |  i. s.: P. antennatus Karg 1985 H98
         |         P. antiquus Treat & Niederman 1967 FH93
         |         P. australis Stone 1988 H98
         |         P. belemensis Fain, Hyland & Aitken 1977 FH93
         |         P. bickleyi (Bram 1956) (see below for synonymy) FH93
         |         P. brevicomis De Leon 1963 FH93
         |         P. coffeae Karg & Rodgriguez 1984 FH93
         |         P. cossi (Dugès 1834) LKW09, E57 [=Gamasus cossi E57, *Jordensia cossi E57]
         |         P. cubanus Karg & Rodriguez 1984 FH93
         |         P. glaucis Fain, Hyland & Aitken 1977 FH93
         |         P. hystrix (Vitzthum 1923) [=Lasioseius hystrix] FH93
         |         P. juradeus W88
         |         P. kirmsei Fain, Hyland & Aitken 1977 FH93
         |         P. lobatus De Leon 1963 FH93
         |         P. longanalis (Westerboer 1963) [=Garmania longanalis] FH93
         |         P. longisetosus (Westerboer in Stammer 1963) [=Garmania (Garmaniella) longisetosa] FH93
         |         P. mariposus (Fox 1946) [=Borinquolaelaps mariposus] FH93
         |         P. mexicanus Hyland, Fain & Moorhouse 1978 FH93
         |         P. micropilis De Leon 1963 FH93
         |         P. nauphoetae (Womersley 1956) [=Blattilaelaps nauphoetae] FH93
         |         P. nemathrix Krantz 1962 FH93
         |         P. neptunis De Leon 1963 FH93
         |         P. nesbitti (Womersley 1956) [=Garmania nesbitti] H98
         |         P. nipponicus LW91
         |         P. novineus El-Banhawy & Nasr 1984 FH93
         |         P. ornatus (Westerboer in Stammer 1963) [=Garmania (Garmaniella) ornata] FH93
         |         P. pacificus Chant 1963 FH93
         |         P. parvanalis (Thor 1930) [=Lasioseius parvanalis] FH93
         |         P. pomorum (Oudemans 1929) [=Typhlodromus pomorum] FH93
         |         P. pygmaeus (Müller 1859) FH93 (see below for synonymy)
         |         P. regalis De Leon 1963 FH93
         |         P. scolyti Evans 1958 FH93
         |         P. spencerae Domrow 1979 H98
         |         P. spiralis Hyland, Fain & Moorhouse 1978 FH93
         |         P. vandenbergi (Ryke 1954) [=Garmania vandenbergi] FH93
         |         P. xyloteri Samšiňák 1960 FH93
         |--P. (Proctolaelaps) FH93
         `--P. (Proctofissus) orbicularis Karg 1985 FH93

Proctolaelaps Berlese 1923 LKW09, FH93 [incl. Blattilaelaps Womersley 1956 FH93, Chamolaelaps Hull in Turk & Turk 1952 FH93, Garmaniella Westerboer & Bernhard in Stammer 1963 FH93, Jordensia Oudemans 1936 FH93, Seiopsis Berlese 1923 FH93]

Proctolaelaps bickleyi (Bram 1956) [=Garmania bickleyi; incl. P. garmanis McGregor 1956, P. lewisi Garman & McGregor 1956, P. striatus Westerboer in Stammer 1963] FH93

Proctolaelaps pygmaeus (Müller 1859) FH93 [=Gamasus pygmaeus FH93; incl. Lasioseius alpinus Schweizer 1949 FH93, Typhlodromus bulbicolus Oudemans 1929 FH93, Garmania bulbicola WL89, Hypoaspis hypudaei Oudemans 1902 H98, Garmannia hypudaei S61, Jordensia hypudaei S61, Proctolaelaps hypudaei LKW09, L. innumerabilis Berlese 1918 FH93, L. ventritrichosus Schweizer 1949 FH93]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[CN99] Colwell, R. K., & P. Naskrecki. 1999. The volution of host-plant affiliation, body size and sexual dimorphism in hummingbird flower mites (Ascidae: Rhinoseius and Tropicoseius). In: Needham, G. R., R. Mitchell, D. J. Horn & W. C. Welbourn (eds) Acarology IX vol. 2. Symposia pp. 79–86. Ohio Biological Survey: Columbus (Ohio).

[E57] Evans, G. O. 1957. An introduction to the British Mesostigmata (Acarina) with keys to families and genera. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology 43: 203–259.

[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.

[LW91] Lindquist, E. E., & K. W. Wu. 1991. Review of mites of the genus Mucroseius (Acari: Mesostigmata: Ascidae) associated with sawyer beetles (Cerambycidae: Monochamus and Mecynippus) and pine wood nematodes [Aphelenchoididae: Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner and Buhrer) Nickle], with descriptions of six new species from Japan and North America, and notes on their previous misidentification. Canadian Entomologist 123: 875–927.

[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.

[W88] Walter, D. E. 1988. Nematophagy by soil arthropods from the shortgrass steppe, Chihuahuan desert and Rocky Mountains of the central United States. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 24: 307–316.

[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.

Last updated: 13 April 2021.