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Trombidiform Mites - Order: Trombidiformes
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The second order of Acariform Mites, the Trombidiformes contains well over 10,000 * described species in more than 150 families in three suborders. The number of suborders was only recently updated from two to three and a number of changes have been made recently as well with regards to exact placement of various families within the order.
Trombidiform Mites are ancient, occurring as fossils in rocks dated from the Early Devonian at some 411 My old. Since then, they have become a widely diverse group of mites that can be found worldwide on all continents and in any environment. |
Trombidiforms range in size from about 0.08 mm to 16 mm in length. More than a few are brightly coloured with oranges and red quite common colours. Many have spiky setae or are covered in what appears to be a dense 'fur' and the larger species are easily mistaken for short-legged spiders. Among the Trombidiformes there are many parasites that can affect either plants or animals, particularly other arthropods. Usually it is the larva of the species that does the damage.
Humans, too, may carry mites or their larvae; two species from the Genus: Demodex, are a lot more common than we would like to believe. |
* = numbers do vary wildly depending on the source. The highest number encountered was well over 25,000.
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The Order: Trombidiformes has undergone a number of reviews over the last 30 years or so. As a consequence, it is difficult to find sources that agree with each other on which families do or do not belong within it. Quite a few sources still recognise the two suborders (Prostrigmata and Sphaerolicida). The 'Catalogue of Life' is one such source but is has the Suborder: Sphaerolicida all but empty. Since January 2022, 'iNaturalist' considers the Parasitengona the third suborder to the Trombidiformes. Even though the name is quite old, 'Parasitengona' does not appear on the 'Catalogue of Life' but, quite a few of its lower taxa (subdivisions) do. You will need to look for them though.
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References and links:
> Zhang, Z.-Q., Fan, Q.-H., Pesic, V., Smit, H., Bochkov, A.V., Khaustov, A.A., Baker, A., Wohltmann, A., Wen, T., Amrine, J.W., Beron, P., Lin, J., Gabrys, G., Husband, R., (2011). ‘Order Trombidiformes Reuter, 1909’. In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (ed.). (2011). ‘Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness.’ Magnolia Press. pp. 129–147. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3148.1.24.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trombidiformes
> https://www.catalogueoflife.org/data/taxon/49Q
> https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/83740-Trombidiformes
> https://www.mindat.org/taxon-543.html
> Zhang, Z.-Q., Fan, Q.-H., Pesic, V., Smit, H., Bochkov, A.V., Khaustov, A.A., Baker, A., Wohltmann, A., Wen, T., Amrine, J.W., Beron, P., Lin, J., Gabrys, G., Husband, R., (2011). ‘Order Trombidiformes Reuter, 1909’. In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (ed.). (2011). ‘Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness.’ Magnolia Press. pp. 129–147. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3148.1.24.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trombidiformes
> https://www.catalogueoflife.org/data/taxon/49Q
> https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/83740-Trombidiformes
> https://www.mindat.org/taxon-543.html
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