MM259999

Pezids are a recently described (Harvey 1990) family of freshwater mites from Australia. They belong to the superfamilial grouping Halacaroidea from the Subclass Prostigmata in the Order Acariformes. One of the two described species, Peza ops, has been collected from the substrates of slow-moving rivers and standing waters in SE Australia. The other species, P. daps, lacks eyes and appears to be endoparasitic in the gill chambers of the freshwater crayfish Engaeus fultoni.

The Pezidae can be differentiated from the Halacaridae by their possession of numerous small dorsal platelets bearing 10-14 pairs of stalked setae; 'typical' halacarids have at most 6 pairs of small dorsal setae.

References:

Harvey, M.S. 1990. Pezidae, a new freshwater mite family from Australia (Acarina: Halacaroidea). Invertebr. Taxon. 3: 771-781.

Walter, D.E. and H.C. Proctor. 1999. Mites: Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, New South Wales.