Histiostomatidae Explained

Histiostomatidae is a family of mites in the clade Astigmata.[1]

Description

These mites are characterized by a very small size (about 600–900 μm in length) and a close association to arthropods, mainly insects. A morphologically specialized instar, the deutonymph (earlier "hypopus"), is adapted to attach to arthropods for phoretic transport from one habitat to another. The mites use various insect groups as phoretic carriers[2] such as beetles, flies and Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps). In all species, the digitus mobilis of the chelicera is reduced to small rests, and the distal pedipalp article is connected to a more or less complex membranous structure. These mouthpart modifications form an organ to feed on bacteria.[3]

Habitats colonized by these mites include animal dung, compost,[4] water-filled tree hollows and the fluids of Nepenthes and Sarracenia pitcher plants.[5]

Genera

The family contains the following genera:[6]

Notes and References

  1. B. M. OConnor . 1981 . A systematic revision of the family-group taxa in the non-psoroptid Astigmata (Acari, Acariformes) . . University of Michigan.
  2. R. D. Hughes & C. G. Jackson . 1958 . A review of the Anoetidae (Acari) . . 9 . 5–198.
  3. Stefan Wirth . 2004 . Phylogeny, biology and character transformations of the Histiostomatidae (Acari, Astigmata) . . Freie Universität Berlin.
  4. R. Scheucher . 1957 . Systematik und Ökologie der deutschen Anoetinen . Beiträge zur Systematik und Ökologie mitteleuropäischer Acarina . 1 . 233–384 . German.
  5. Norman J. Fashing . 2002 . Nepenthacarus, a new genus of Histiostomatidae (Acari) inhabiting the pitchers of Nepenthes mirabilis (Lour.) Druce in Far North Queensland, Australia . . 41 . 2–11 . PDF.
  6. Web site: Histiostomatidae Berlese, 1897 . Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog . . May 4, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20041116184145/http://insects.tamu.edu/research/collection/hallan/acari/Histiostomatidae.txt . November 16, 2004 . dead .