Holothyrida Explained

The Holothyrida are a small order of mites in the superorder Parasitiformes. No fossils are known. With body lengths of more than they are relatively large mites, with a heavily sclerotized body. It is divided into three families, Allothyridae, Holothyridae, and Neothyridae. In a 1998 experimental study, members of the family Allothyridae were found to ignore living animals but readily fed on the body fluids of dead arthropods, making them scavengers.^[1]

The order has a distribution largely confined to former Gondwanan landmasses. They are the sister group to Ixodida (ticks).^[2]

Systematics

Allothyridae

Allothyridae van der Hammen, 1972 — Australia, New Zealand

• Allothyrus van der Hammen, 1961

• Allothyrus australasiae (Womersley, 1935)

• Allothyrus constrictus (Domrow, 1955)
• Australothyrus van der Hammen, 1983

• Australothyrus ocellatus van der Hammen, 1983

Holothyridae

Holothyridae Thorell, 1882 Sri Lanka, Indian Ocean islands, New Guinea, New Caledonia

• Sternothyrus Lehtinen, 1995
  • Sternothyrus braueri (Thon, 1905) — Seychelles
• Lindothyrus Lehtinen, 1995
  • Lindothyrus elongatus Lehtinen, 1995 — Lord Howe Island
  • Lindothyrus rubellus Lehtinen, 1995 — New Caledonia
• Indothyrus Lehtinen, 1995
  • Indothyrus greeni Lehtinen, 1995 — Sri Lanka
• Haplothyrus Lehtinen, 1995
  • Haplothyrus expolitissimus (Berlese, 1924) — New Caledonia
  • Haplothyrus hyatti Lehtinen, 1995 — unknown locality
• Holothyrus Gervais, 1842 — Mauritius
  • Holothyrus coccinella Gervais, 1842
  • Holothyrus legendrei Hammen, 1983
• Hammenius Lehtinen, 1981
  • Hammenius armatus (Canestrini, 1897) — Tamara Island (Aitape): New Guinea
  • Hammenius berlesei (Lehtinen, 1995) — New Guinea
  • Hammenius braueri (Thon, 1906)
  • Hammenius fujuge Lehtinen, 1981 — New Guinea (Central District, Oro Province)
  • Hammenius grandjeani (Hammen, 1961) — Mount Bosavi: New Guinea
  • Hammenius holthuisi van der Hammen, 1983
  • Hammenius ingii Lehtinen, 1981 — New Guinea
  • Hammenius insularis Lehtinen, 1995 — Louisiade Archipelago: New Guinea
  • Hammenius longipes (Thorell, 1882) — Fly River, New Guinea (?)
  • Hammenius mendi (Lehtinen, 1995) — Strickland River: New Guinea
  • Hammenius montanus Hammen, 1983 — Irian Jaya
  • Hammenius niger (Thon, 1906)

Neothyridae

Neothyridae Lehtinen, 1981 Northern South America and the Caribbean

• Diplothyrus Lehtinen, 1999 Brazil, French Guiana
  • Diplothyrus schubarti Lehtinen, 1999
  • Diplothyrus lecorrei Klompen 2010
  • Diplothyrus lehtineni Vázquez & de Araújo & Feres 2016
• Neothyrus Lehtinen, 1981 Peru
  • Neothyrus ana Lehtinen, 1981
• Caribothyrus Kontschán & Mahunka 2004 Dominican Republic
  • Caribothyrus barbatus Kontschán & Mahunka 2004

References

• Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog: Holothyrida
• Bruce Halliday: Order Holothyrida
• Lehtinen, Pekka T. (1995): Revision of the old world Holothyridae (Arachnida : Anactinotrichida : Holothyrina). Invertebrate Taxonomy 9(4): 767-826.

Notes and References

1. Walter . David Evans . Proctor . Heather C. . 1998 . Feeding behaviour and phylogeny: observations on early derivative Acari . Experimental and Applied Acarology . 22 . 1 . 39–50 . 10.1023/A:1006033407957.
2. Dobson . Susan J. . Barker . Stephen C. . 1999 . Phylogeny of the Hard Ticks (Ixodidae) Inferred from 18S rRNA Indicates That the GenusAponommaIs Paraphyletic . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . en . 11 . 2 . 288–295 . 10.1006/mpev.1998.0565.