Major mite taxa

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Taxonomy

updated 2025

Common names

oribatid mites, moss mites, armored mites, cryptostigmatans, astigmatids, acarids

Probability of encounter

very high

Quarantine importance

High, but almost entirely because of the hyporder Astigmata. Most traditional oribatid mites are of little interest to quarantine: most are fungivores or detritivores, only a few are minor pests of plants and none are significant parasites of animals. Some oribatids, however, may disperse fungal spores and other microbial propagules. In contrast, the hyporder Astigmata contains many important parasites of people, livestock, pets, wildlife and insects, as well as many fungivores and scavengers that are pests in stored products and homes.

Diagnosis

Small (0.100 mm long) to medium (2.0 mm) mites without typical stigmatal openings (some have secondarily derived brachytracheae), rarely with expansive plastron-like structures in aquatic species; gnathosoma  with the bases of the chelicerae exposed, but often withdrawn into a camerostome; palps with 2–5 free segments, without a palp apotele; subcapitulum without a median groove or transverse rows of denticles; toothed to quadrate rutella usually present; flagellate tritosternum absent; coxae fused to body wall, usually plate-like or completely assimilated into the body wall (epimeres); chelicerae 2-segmented (rarely with additional remnant basal segment); prodorsum with 0–1 pair of trichobothria; intercoxal region without sternal or genital shield elements, genital opening postcoxal; development: +/- hexapod prelarva, hexapod larva and 2–3 octopod nymphal stages (protonymph, +/- deutonymph, tritonymph); genital opening develops gradually and usually associated with 1–3 pairs of genital papillae; larva usually with urstigmata; males sometimes with an aedeagus, never with modified chelicerae; female sperm receiving structures primary or secondary.

Immature Oribatida: prodorsum with 1 pair of variously formed trichobothria and usually 5 pairs of setae; naso and/ or eyes rarely present, legs ending in a single claw without rays, opisthonotal gland often present.

Similar taxa

Some adult Mesostigmata and Prostigmata are heavily sclerotized and might be confused with oribatid mites. However, heavily sclerotized oribatid mites usually have rutella and lack stigmatal openings. Additionally, heavily sclerotized Mesostigmata usually have well developed tritosterna and horn-like corniculi.

The immature stages of some oribatid mites may be confused with Endeostigmata.

Ecology and distribution

Cosmopolitan. Although most species are free-living fungivores, many astigmatid lineages are parasitic on vertebrates and arthropods. Many Astigmata are phoretic on insects as heteromorphic deutonymphs (hypopi). Most oribatids are particulate-feeders, but some feed on fluids or very fine particulate matter.

References

• Balogh 1972Balogh 1972:
  Balogh J. 1972. The Oribatid genera of the world. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest. pp. 1–188 + Plates 1-71.
• Balogh and Balogh 1988Balogh and Balogh 1988:
  Balogh J, Balogh P. 1988. Oribatid mites of the Neotropical Region I. The Soil Mites of the World, Vol. 2. Elsevier, Amsterdam. 335 pp.
• Balogh and Balogh 1990Balogh and Balogh 1990:
  Balogh J, Balogh P. 1990. Oribatid mites of the Neotropical Region II. The Soil Mites of the World, Vol. 3. Elsevier, Amsterdam. 333 pp.
• Colloff and Halliday 1998Colloff and Halliday 1998:
  Colloff M, Halliday B. 1998. Oribatid mites: A catalogue of Australian genera and species. Monograph on Invertebrate Taxonomy, Vol. 6. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
• Gilyarov and Krivolutsky 1975Gilyarov and Krivolutsky 1975:
  Gilyarov MS, Krivolutsky DA, eds. 1975. Handbook for the identification of soil-inhabiting mites, Sarcoptiformes. Zoological Institute of the Academy of Sciences, Petrograd.
• Hunt et al. 1998Hunt et al. 1998:
  Hunt GS, Norton RA, Kelly JPH, Colloff MJ, Lindsay SM, Dallwitz MJ, Walter DE. 1998. Oribatid Mites: An Interactive Glossary of Oribatid Mites, An Interactive Key to the Oribatid Mites of Australia [Intkey software and user guide on CD-ROM]. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood.
• Krantz 1978Krantz 1978:
  Krantz GW. 1978. A manual of acarology [2nd ed.]. Oregon State University Book Stores, Corvallis.
• Walter and Proctor 1999Walter and Proctor 1999:
  Walter DE, Proctor HC. 1999. Mites: Ecology, evolution and behaviour. University of NSW Press, Sydney and CABI, Wallingford. 494 pp.

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