Polyaspidoidea

Trachytes pauperior, copyright Bergen Museum.

Belongs within: Uropodina.

The Polyaspidoidea are a group of predatory mites that are most diverse in leaf litter, tree holes and moss in northern temperate regions (Lindquist et al. 2009).

Characters (from Lindquist et al. 2009): Coxae I flanking broad tritosternal base, vertex and camerostome well developed, distinct pedofossae absent; palpgenu with five setae. Body usually covered in thick, ornamented cerotegument; adults with a fragmented or holodorsal shield, peritrematic sclerites fused with mediodorsal shield anterodorsally and bearing vertical setae, without a separate vertex shield element; marginal shields usually present, often fragmented into smaller scutella or fused with mediodorsal shield, pygidial shield present, narrow to broad, sometimes fragmented, either nude or bearing one to several pairs of setae. Chelicerae elongate, without lyrifissure and with large to small digits, pilus dentilis absent. Peritremes well developed. Tritosternal base broader than long, laciniae fused basally, often subdivided distally. Femur I with nine setae (typically 1 4/3 1), genua III and IV each with one or two ventral setae, and tibia I with four dorsal and two ventral setae (2 2/1, 211 2(1)). Female epigynal shield rounded or trapezoidal and with slender paragynal elements, each carrying a seta (st5) and a pore, rarely fused to epigynal shield. Sternal region well sclerotized; large ventrianal shield present or incorporated into holoventral shield. Male with holoventral shield, genital opening between coxae III and IV, anterior genital valve sometimes with one pair of setae. Cerotegument usually thick, often reticulate, sometimes extended as wings on segments of legs I.

<==Polyaspidoidea [Polyaspidini, Trachytoidea] LKW09
    |--Polyaspididae LKW09
    |    |--Dyscritaspis Camin 1953 FH93
    |    |    `--D. whartoni Camin 1953 LKW09, FH93
    |    |--Calotrachytes Berlese 1916 FH93
    |    |    |--C. fimbriatipes (Michael 1908) SL71
    |    |    `--C. sclerophyllus (Michael 1908) SL71
    |    |--Dipolyaspis Berlese 1916 VKC07, FH93
    |    |    `--*P. sansonei (Berlese 1916) [=Polyaspis (*Dipolyaspis) sansonei] B16
    |    `--Polyaspis Berlese 1881 FH93
    |         |--*P. patavinus Berlese 1881 ET79
    |         |--P. australis Berlese 1881 [=Poliaspis (l. c.) australis] H98
    |         |--P. lamellipes Banks 1914 FH93
    |         `--P. potchefstroomi A81
    |--Dithinozerconidae LKW09
    |    |--Iphidinychus Berlese 1913 LKW09, FH93
    |    |--Caminella Krantz & Ainscough 1960 LKW09, FH93
    |    |    `--C. peraphora Krantz & Ainscough 1960 FH93
    |    `--Uroseius Berlese 1888 FH93 [incl. Apionoseius Berlese 1904 LKW09, FH93, Dithinozercon Berlese 1917 FH93]
    |         |--*U. acuminatus (Koch 1847) [=Uropoda acuminata] ET79
    |         |--U. australianus (Canestrini 1884) (see below for synonymy) H98
    |         |--U. badius Ewing 1909 FH93
    |         |--‘Apionoseius’ castrii LKW09
    |         |--U. inaequipunctatus (Stoll 1893) [=Uropoda inaequipunctata] FH93
    |         |--‘Celaeno’ infirma Berlese 1887 (see below for synonymy) FH93
    |         |--U. hunzikeri Schweizer 1922 S61
    |         |--U. johnstoni Hirschmann 1979 [=U. (Apionoseius) johnstoni] FH93
    |         |--‘Trachytes’ lagenaeformis Berlese 1904 [=Apionoseius lagenaeformis, A. lagenarius (l. c.)] FH93
    |         |--‘Echinoseius (Iphidinychus)’ manicatus Berlese 1913 [=Apionoseius manicatus] FH93
    |         `--U. tumidus Ewing 1913 FH93
    |--Tetrasejaspis Sellnick 1941 A81, FH93 [Tetrasejaspidae FH93]
    |--Baloghjkaszabia Hirschmann 1973 A81, FH93 [Baloghjkaszabiidae FH93]
    `--Trachytidae [Polyaspinidae] LKW09
         |--Pholeogynium Johnston 1961 FH93
         |--Polyaspinus Berlese 1916 LKW09, FH93
         |    |--*P. cylindricus Berlese 1916 ET79
         |    |--P. boliviensis LKW09
         |    |--P. higginsi Camin 1954 FH93
         |    |--P. quadrangularis LKW09
         |    |--P. tasmaniensis LKW09
         |    `--P. tuberculatus Womersley 1961 [=Polyaspis tuberculatus, Uroseius tuberculatus] H98
         `--Trachytes Michael 1894 FH93
              |--*T. aegrota (Koch 1841) ET79 (see below for synonymy)
              |--T. austeni Hirst 1923 H23
              |--T. dubiosus Schweizer 1961 S61
              |--T. infirmus S22
              |--T. minima Trägårdh 1910 FH93
              |--T. mystacinus Berlese 1910 K07
              |--T. mystiacus Berlese 1910 S61
              |--T. pauperior (Berlese 1914) K07 [=T. pi var. pauperior S61]
              |--T. pi S61
              |--T. sumatrensis H23
              |--T. szonjaae Kontschán 2007 K07
              |--T. tragardhi Hirschmann & Zirngiebl-Nicol 1969 FH93
              `--T. tubifer S61

‘Celaeno’ infirma Berlese 1887 FH93 [=Apionoseius infirmus FH93; incl. A. dubiosus Vitzthum 1925 FH93, Thinozercon (*Dithinozercon) halberti Berlese 1916 FH93, B16]

*Trachytes aegrota (Koch 1841) ET79 [=Celaeno aegrota FH93; incl. Trachynotus pyriformis Kramer 1876 FH93, Trachytes pyriformis S61]

Uroseius australianus (Canestrini 1884) [=Celaeno australiana, Apionoseius australianus, Celaenopsis australiana] H98

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A81] Ainscough, B. D. 1981. Uropodine studies. I. Suprageneric classification in the cohort Uropodina Kramer, 1882 (Acari: Mesostigmata). International Journal of Acarology 7: 47–56.

[B16] Berlese, A. 1916. Centuria terza di Acari nuovi. Redia 12: 289–338.

[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.

[H23] Hirst, S. 1923. On some new or little-known species of Acari. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1923: 971–1000.

[K07] Kontschán, J. 2007. Some new records of Uropodina mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) from Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro with descriptions of two new species. Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici 99: 177–188.

[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.

[S22] Schweizer, J. 1922. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der terrestrischen Milbenfauna der Schweiz. Verhandl. Naturf. Ges. Basel 33: 23–112, 4 pls.

[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.

[SL71] Spain, A. V., & M. Luxton. 1971. Catalog and bibliography of the Acari of the New Zealand subregion. Pacific Insects Monograph 25: 179–226.

[VKC07] Vázquez, M. M., H. Klompen & C. I. Chargoy. 2007. Study of the Uropodina (Acari: Mesostigmata) in tropical forests of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico and Belize. 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. 43–50. Instituto de Biología and Faculdad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Sociedad Latinoamericana de Acarología: México.