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Labidosommatides
Superorder Acariformes
Order Trombidiformes
Suborder Prostigmata
Supercohort Labidostommatides
Cohort (Superfamily): Labidostomatina (Labidostommatoidea).
Common names:
Probability of Encounter:
Quarantine importance:
Diagnosis. Medium to
large-bodied; heavily sclerotized with a single holodorsal shield; green or
yellow in color. Body holoid, coxal fields expanded
and contiguous, forming a ventral ‘cross-hatch’ pattern. Dorso-sejugal furrow absent. Chelicerae
astegasime, robust and strongly chelate, bases separate; stigmatal openings between cheliceral bases; peritremes
absent. Palps 4-segmented, linear, lacking a thumb-claw complex. Two pairs of prodorsal trichobothria;
median and lateral eyes present; eye-like postocular pustules present in some species. Body setae short and sparse; 2 pairs of
genital papillae in adults.
Similar taxa. Oribatida
have only a single pair of prodorsal
trichobothria.
Ecology & Distribution.
Labidostommatid mites are striking, morphologically distinctive
animals. They are
relatively common in moist forest litter and on rough tree bark. They
also inhabit mosses and lichens. These
mites are ambush or stalking predators of small arthropods. They walk about on their hind three pairs of
legs and use legs I to sense and capture prey.
References
Atyeo WT & Crossley DA. 1961a. Labidostommidae
from Australia (Acarina, Prostigmata) with the description of a new species. Trans.
Roy. Soc. S. Aust. 84: 83-86.
Atyeo WT & Crossley DA. 1961b. The
Labidostommidae of New Zealand (Acarina).
Rec. Dom. Mus. 4: 29-48.
Kethley JB.
1982. Acariformes. In: Parker, S.P. (ed.) Synopsis and Classification of Living
Organisms. McGraw-Hill, New York,
pp. 123-124.
Kethley JB.
1990. Acarina: Prostigmata
(Actinedida). In DL Dindal (ed.) Soil Biology Guide. John Wiley & Sons, New York, pp.
667-756.
Krantz GW. 1978. A Manual of Acarology. OSU Bookstores: Corvallis.
