Epicriidae

Epicrus canestrinii, copyright Matthew Shepherd.

Belongs within: Gamasina.

The Epicriidae are a group of mites known from the Northern Hemisphere with species found in habitats such as moss, leaf litter, decaying wood or animal nests. Their diet is unknown though the morphology of the gnathosoma suggests they may feed on fungal fluids (Lindquist et al. 2009).

Characters (from Lindquist et al. 2009): Female and male dorsal shield entire, usually expanded laterally and consolidated with peritrematic shields, which in turn are expanded posteriorly onto the ventrolateral surface behind coxae IV, ornamented with 11–19 pairs of dorsal glands and a network of large bi-, tri-, or qundrifurcate tubercles. Stigmata prominent, typically on protuberances, peritremes vestigial or lacking. Tritosternum reduced to stubby base and abbreviated laciniae. Sternal setae I on paired jugular plates, poroids may be absent. Female sternal shield with 2–3 pairs of setae, apparently without poroids; 4^th sternal setae usually free on soft integument or rarely inserted on metasternal plates or on posterior edge of sternal shield; epigynal shield with two pairs (occasionally one pair) of setae and well separated posteriorly from an anal or small ventrianal shield. Males with sternitigenital shield separated from ventral and anal shields or from ventrianal or anal shield (the latter sometimes integrated with posterior margin of dorsal shield). Posterior margins of coxae IV with single or multiple inguinal glands. Leg I elongated, without tarsal claws and with two to several setae that are more or less elongated and minutely clubbed apically. Peripodomeric suture of tarsi II–IV usually with a dorsal intercalary sclerite bearing two setae. Femur I with thirteen setae, including four ventral setae and five dorsal setae; tibia I with four ventral setae, six dorsal setae, and 2 anterolateral setae; tibia III with nine setae (2 1/1, 2/1 2); genu III with ten setae, including two ventral setae. Palptarsal claw three-tined (occasionally two-tined). Corniculi small, slender, much shorter than internal malae. Female tocospermous. Male with genital aperture located between coxae III and without spurs or modified spinelike setae on legs II–IV; male chelicerae not obviously elaborated for sperm transfer. Larva lacking pygidial shield; protonymphal pygidial shield with eight pairs of setae, setae S4–S5 on shield; dorsal shield of deutonymph entire.

<==Epicriidae [Epicrioidea] LKW09
    |--Neoepicrius LKW09
    |--Adenoepicrius LKW09
    |--Berlesiana Turk 1943 ET79
    |    |--*B. cirrata (Berlese 1916) [=Epicrius cirratus] ET79
    |    `--B. denticulata ET79
    `--Epicrius Canestrini & Fanzago 1878 (see below for synonymy) FH93
         |--E. mollis (Kramer 1876) [=Gamasus mollis; incl. *E. geometricus Canestrini & Fanzago 1887] ET79
         |--E. canestrinii S61
         |--E. menzeli Schweizer 1922 S61
         |--E. spinituberculatus ET79
         `--E. washingtonianus Berlese 1916 FH93

Epicrius Canestrini & Fanzago 1878 [incl. Diepicrius Berlese 1916, Epicriella Willmann 1953, Eugamasus Absolon 1899 non Berlese 1892, Parasejus Trägårdh 1910] 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.

[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.

Last updated: 22 April 2021.