Stigmaeidae

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Stigmaeidae
Temporal range: Palaeogene–present
Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.ART.1344 - Stigmaeus kermesinus (C. L. Koch) - Mites - Collection Anthonie Cornelis Oudemans.jpeg
Eustigmaeus kermesinus (formerly Stigmaeus kermesinus)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Trombidiformes
Superfamily: Raphignathoidea
Family: Stigmaeidae
Oudemans, 1931

Stigmaeidae is a family of prostigmatan mites in the order Trombidiformes. [1] [2] [3] At over 600 species, it is the largest family in superfamily Raphignathoidea. [4] It has a worldwide distribution. [5]

Contents

Description

As mites, Stigmaeidae have unsegmented bodies with eight legs (six in larvae). They can be recognised by: prodorsum without transversal groove, sacs or tubes; suranal and aggenital shields separate; cheliceral bases usually separate (rarely fused or conjunct); palps stout with tibial claws at least 1/3 length of tarsus; peritreme absent. Males differ from females in being somewhat tapered posteriorly. [6]

Life cycle

The stigmaeid life cycle has the five stages of egg, larva, protonymph, deutonymph and adult. The larva and two nymph stages are also each followed by a quiescent period. The whole life cycle takes no more than four weeks. Males usually reach adulthood slightly faster than females, allowing them to mate with females as soon as the latter have reached adulthood. Offspring exhibit a female-biased sex ratio (often in the 60-70% range), except for offspring of unmated females which are all male. [5]

Most Stigmaeidae are active year-round, but some species are known to go into diapause for the winter. Overwintering locations include litter at the base of trees and under bark scales on apple. [5]

Habitat

Over a third of Stigmaeidae species are free-living predators that occur on the leaves and branches of plants (e.g. many Agistemus and Zetzellia). There are also stigmaeids (e.g. many Eustigmaeus, Ledermulleriopsis and Stigmaeus) that live in soil and leaf litter and are believed to feed on moss or lichen. A few species live on the surface of freshwater, in animal nests or attached to sandflies. [5]

Some species can survive, feed and even develop while immersed in water, but cannot reproduce. [7]

Diet

Predatory Stigmaeidae have generalist diets, consuming other mites (e.g. spider mites, false spider mites, gall and rust mites and broad mites) as well as small insects (Hemiptera, Lepidoptera) and plant pollen. They usually prefer to feed on immature stages such as eggs. They feed by piercing prey with their chelicerae and sucking out the fluids. [5]

Moss-feeders, such as those in genus Eustigmaeus (formerly Ledermuelleria), feed on moss leaves. They suck out cell contents while leaving the cell walls intact. They can feed and survive on many moss species, though only a few species allow mite reproduction. [7]

Stigmaeidae that attach to sandflies are presumed to be parasitic, leaving behind scars on the abdomens of their hosts. [8] [9]

Biological control

Due to their predatory activity, some stigmaeids (e.g Agistemus exsertus and Zetzellia mali) have been studied for use as biological control agents of pest mites. [5] Modelling indicates that stigmaeids are more effective control agents than phytoseiids at low prey densities (but less effective at high prey densities), and a combination of stigmaeids and phytoseiids is more effective than either predator alone. [10]

Genera

Related Research Articles

<i>Tetranychus urticae</i> Species of mite

Tetranychus urticae is a species of plant-feeding mite generally considered to be a pest. It is the most widely known member of the family Tetranychidae or spider mites. Its genome was fully sequenced in 2011, and was the first genome sequence from any chelicerate.

<i>Varroa jacobsoni</i> Species of mite

Varroa jacobsoni is a species of mite that parasitises Apis cerana. The more damaging Varroa destructor was previously included under the name V. jacobsoni, but the two species can be separated on the basis of the DNA sequence of the cytochrome oxidase I gene in the mitochondrial DNA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acariformes</span> Superorder of mite

The Acariformes, also known as the Actinotrichida, are the more diverse of the two superorders of mites. Over 32,000 described species are found in 351 families, with an estimated total of 440,000 to 929,000 species, including undescribed species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phytoseiidae</span> Family of mites

The Phytoseiidae are a family of mites which feed on thrips and other mite species. They are often used as a biological control agent for managing mite pests. Because of their usefulness as biological control agents, interest in Phytoseiidae has steadily increased over the past century. Public awareness of the biological control potential of invertebrates has been growing, though mainly in the US and Europe. In 1950, there were 34 known species. Today, there are 2,731 documented species organized in 90 genera and three subfamilies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oribatida</span> Order of mites

Oribatida, also known as oribatid mites, moss mites or beetle mites, are an order of mites, in the "chewing Acariformes" clade Sarcoptiformes. They range in size from 0.2 to 1.4 millimetres. There are currently 12,000 species that have been identified, but researchers estimate that there may be anywhere from 60,000 to 120,000 total species. Oribatid mites are by far the most prevalent of all arthropods in forest soils, and are essential for breaking down organic detritus and distributing fungi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tydeidae</span> Family of mites

Tydeidae is a family of acariform mites. As of 2016, it contained over 300 species in three subfamilies, though more species have been discovered since then.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostigmata</span> Suborder of mites

The Prostigmata is a suborder of mites belonging to the order Trombidiformes, which contains the "sucking" members of the "true mites" (Acariformes).

The Raphignathoidea is a superfamily of the Acari (mite) order Trombidiformes, comprising 1087 species in 62 genera and 12 families.

<i>Riccardoella limacum</i> Species of mite

Riccardoella limacum or the white snail mite is a member of the Acari (mite) family which is parasitic primarily on snails. Slug mites are very small, white, and can be seen to move very rapidly over the surface of their host, particularly under the shell rim and near the pulmonary aperture. While once thought to be benign mucophages, more recent studies have shown that they actually subsist on the host's blood, and may bore into the host's body to feed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trombidiidae</span> Family of mites

Trombidiidae, also known as red velvet mites, true velvet mites, or rain bugs, are small arachnids found in plant litter and are known for their bright red color.

<i>Raoiella indica</i> Species of mite

Raoiella indica, commonly known as the red palm mite, is a species of mite belonging to the family Tenuipalpidae. A pest of several species of palm in the Middle East and South East Asia, it is now becoming established throughout the Caribbean. The invasion of this species is the biggest mite explosion ever observed in the Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trombidiformes</span> Order of mites

The Trombidiformes are a large, diverse order of mites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydrachnidia</span> Group of mites

Hydrachnidia, also known as "water mites", Hydrachnidiae, Hydracarina or Hydrachnellae, are among the most abundant and diverse groups of benthic arthropods, composed of 6,000 described species from 57 families. As water mites of Africa, Asia, and South America have not been well-studied, the numbers are likely to be far greater. Other taxa of parasitengone mites include species with semi-aquatic habits, but only the Hydracarina are properly subaquatic. Water mites follow the general Parasitengona life cycle: active larva, inactive (calyptostasic) protonymph, active deutonymph, inactive tritonymph and active adult. Usually, larvae are parasites, while deutonymphs and adults are predators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macrochelidae</span> Family of mites

Macrochelidae is a family of mites in the order Mesostigmata.

<i>Bryobia</i> Genus of mites

Bryobia is a genus of mites in the spider mite family, Tetranychidae. The taxonomy of the genus is difficult. The genus has been revised several times. It is difficult to distinguish these tiny species from each other on the basis of morphological characters, and there is little agreement on which characteristics are of importance. Also, species can be variable in morphology. Over 130 species have been described, but many of the names are likely synonyms.

Neophyllobius is a genus of mites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cunaxidae</span> Family of mites

Cunaxidae is a family of predatory mites in the order Trombidiformes. There are at least 20 genera and 390 described species in Cunaxidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neotrombidiidae</span> Family of mites

Neotrombidiidae is a family of velvet mites and chiggers in the order Trombidiformes. There are at least four genera in Neotrombidiidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tetranychoidea</span> Superfamily of mites

Tetranychoidea is a superfamily of mites in the order Trombidiformes. There are about 5 families and more than 2,200 described species in Tetranychoidea.

Melicharidae is a family of mites in the order Mesostigmata.

References

  1. "Stigmaeidae Family Information". BugGuide.net. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  2. "Stigmaeidae Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  3. Pepato, A.R.; Klimov, P.B. (2015). "Origin and higher-level diversification of acariform mites--evidence from nuclear ribosomal genes, extensive taxon sampling, and secondary structure alignment". BMC Evolutionary Biology. BioMed Central. 15: 178. doi:10.1186/s12862-015-0458-2. PMC   4557820 . PMID   26330076.
  4. Beron, Petar (2020-04-06). "ACARORUM CATALOGUS VII. Trombidiformes, Prostigmata, Raphignathoidea (Fam. Barbutiidae, Caligonellidae, Camerobiidae, Cryptognathidae, Dasythyreidae, Dytiscacaridae, Eupalopsellidae, Homocaligidae, Mecognathidae, Raphignathidae, Stigmaeidae, Xenocaligonellididae)". Advanced Books. 1: e55087. doi:10.3897/ab.e55087. ISBN   978-619-248-007-3. S2CID   225966317.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Fan, Qing-Hai; Flechtmann, Carlos H. W. (2015), Carrillo, Daniel; de Moraes, Gilberto José; Peña, Jorge E. (eds.), "Stigmaeidae", Prospects for Biological Control of Plant Feeding Mites and Other Harmful Organisms, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 185–206, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-15042-0_7, ISBN   978-3-319-15042-0 , retrieved 2022-09-06
  6. Qing-Hai Fan & Zhi-Qiang Zhang (2005). Fauna of New Zealand Number 52 Raphignathoidea (Acari: Prostigmata). Manaaki Whenua Press. ISBN   0-478-09371-3.
  7. 1 2 Gerson, U. (1972). "Mites of the genus Ledermuelleria (Prostigmata: Stigmaeidae) associated with mosses in Canada". Acarologia . 13: 319–343.
  8. Badakhshan, Mehdi; Sadraei, Javid; Moin-Vaziri, Vahideh (2013-04-10). "The First Report of Eustigmaeus johnstoni (Acari: Stigmaeidae) Parasitic Mite of Phlebotominae Sand Flies from Iran". Journal of Arthropod-Borne Diseases. 7 (1): 94–98. ISSN   2322-1984. PMC   3684503 . PMID   23785700.
  9. Majidi, Maryam; Hajiqanbar, Hamidreza; Saboori, Alireza (2019-02-17). "Parasitic stigmaeid mites (Acari: Stigmaeidae) of phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Fars Province, southern Iran". International Journal of Acarology. 45 (1–2): 41–47. doi:10.1080/01647954.2018.1549098. ISSN   0164-7954. S2CID   91984335.
  10. Clements, David R.; Harmsen, Rudolf (1992). "Stigmaeid-phytoseiid interactions and the impact of natural enemy complexes on plant-inhabiting mites". Experimental & Applied Acarology. 14 (3–4): 327–341. doi:10.1007/BF01200571. ISSN   0168-8162. S2CID   21203211.

Further reading