Mouthparts—chelicerae
The four superfamilies containing the most important plant-parasitic mites are easily separated by modifications of the capitulumgnathosoma:
(= capitulum) the anteriormost part of a mite or ricinuleid, composed of the cheliceral and pedipalpal segments and separated from the body (idiosoma) by a ring of soft cuticle.
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- The Penthaleidae (Eupodoidea) have the least modified gnathosomagnathosoma:
(= capitulum) the anteriormost part of a mite or ricinuleid, composed of the cheliceral and pedipalpal segments and separated from the body (idiosoma) by a ring of soft cuticle.
: chelicerae are separate and have a blade-like movable digit.
- The Eriophyoidea have a bundle of 7–9 minute stylets encased in a cheliceral sheathcheliceral sheath:
(= stylet sheath, rostral gutter) the median anterior process of the capitulum bearing a gutter, U-shaped in cross section, that enclosed the 7-9 stylets in the Eriophyoidea.
and supported by stubby palps that end in a pair of suction cups. In the Diptilomiopidae, the gnathosomagnathosoma:
(= capitulum) the anteriormost part of a mite or ricinuleid, composed of the cheliceral and pedipalpal segments and separated from the body (idiosoma) by a ring of soft cuticle.
is usually relatively large and the stylets abruptly curving ventrally near their bases.
- The Tetranychoidea have the chelicerae are fused into a retractable stylophorestylophore:
chelicerae formed of fused cheliceral bases bearing stylet-like movable digits as in Raphignathae (Prostigmata), e.g., the plant parasitic spider mites and their relatives (Tetranychoidea). In predatory and parasitic Cheyletoidea and parasitic Myobiidae, the stylophore and subcapitulum are fused into a gnathosomal capsule.
with long, whip-likewhip-like:
long, slender and sinuous as in the posterior setae of some phytoseiid mites (Mesostigmata) or the stylets of spider mites and their relatives (Prostigmata: Tetranychoidea).
digits.
- The Tarsonemidae (TarsonemoideaTarsonemoidea:
(also Tarsonemina) a superfamily within Prostigmata > infraorder Eleutherengona > hyporder Heterostigmata consisting of two families: Tarsonemidae and Podapolipidae.
) have a fully formed gnathosomal capsulegnathosomal capsule:
a fusion of the gnathosomal elements (chelicerae and subcapitulum) into a single structure, as seen in protigmatans such as Heterostigmata, Myobiidae, and Cheyletoidea (also tegmen).
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