Exotic mite families

t

Taxonomy

updated 2025

Common names

tarsonemids, tracheal mites, broad mite, tropical mite, cyclamen mite

Probability of encounter

very high

Quarantine importance

High. The Tarsonemidae contains about 40 genera and over 500 described species. Important plant parasites are found in the genera Polyphagotarsonemus (P. latus (Banks), the broad mite, tropical mite, tea mite), Hemitarsonemus (on ferns), Phytonemus (P. pallidus (Banks) the cyclamen mite), and Steneotarsonemus (e.g., S. ananas (Tryon) on pineapple, S. bancrofti (Michael) on sugarcane, S. spinki Smiley on rice). Damage by species of Steneotarsonemus is typically associated with fungal infections. In addition to the plant-parasitic tarsonemids, others are pests of bees, forest trees, and mushroom culture.

Diagnosis

• Minute to small, oval, rounded, or dorso-ventrally flattened mites
• Idiosoma covered by 1–3 lightly to moderately sclerotized shields
• Cheliceral bases fused to each other and to the subcapitulum to form a stylophore-capsule; movable digit of chelicera stylet-like and partially retractable.
• Palps greatly reduced and difficult to distinguish
• Trichobothria present in adult females and capitate; stigmata opening on the prodorsum.
• Tarsus of leg I with a single hooked claw
• Legs IV of female 3-segmented, thinner than other legs, lacking tarsal claws, and ending in a whip-like flagellate seta
• Legs IV of male often thicker than other legs and bearing a single (often very robust) tarsal claw. Males with a slightly telescopic 'genital capsule' bearing copulatory suckers and the aedeagus.

Similar taxa

Immature tarsonemids may be confused with Eriophyoidea, but have 3 pairs of legs and a gnathosomal capsule. Members of other families in the Heterostigmata are likely to be confused with Tarsonemidae.

Ecology and distribution

The Tarsonemidae have the most varied ecology of the Heterostigmatina, sometimes acting as parasites or predators of insects (the most famous of these being the honeybee parasite Acarapis woodi), sometimes as fungivores, and sometimes as plant parasites.

References

• Bridges and Moser 1983Bridges and Moser 1983:
  Bridges JR, Moser JC. 1983. Role of two phoretic mites in transmission of bluestain fungus, Ceratocystis minor. Ecological Entomology 8: 9–12.
• Crop Protection Compendium 1999Crop Protection Compendium 1999:
  Crop Protection Compendium. 1999. Global Module [CD-ROM]. CAB International.
• Jeppson et al. 1975Jeppson et al. 1975:
  Jeppson LR, Keifer HH, Baker EW. 1975. Mites injurious to economic plants. University of California Press, Berkeley.
• Lindquist 1986Lindquist 1986:
  Lindquist EE. 1986. The world genera of Tarsonemidae (Acari: Heterostigmata): A morphological, phylogenetic, and systematic revision, with a reclassification of family-group taxa in the Heterostigmata. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada 136: 1–517.
• Lindquist 1998Lindquist 1998:
  Lindquist EE. 1998. Evolution of phytophagy in trombidiform mites. Experimental and Applied Acarology 22: 81–100.
• Ochoa et al. 1991Ochoa et al. 1991:
  Ochoa R, Smiley RL, Saunders JL. 1991. The family Tarsonemidae in Costa Rica (Acari: Heterostigmata). International Journal of Acarology 17: 41–86.
• Ochoa et al. 1994Ochoa et al. 1994:
  Ochoa R, Aguilar H, Vargas C. 1994. Phytophagous mites of Central America: An illustrated guide. CATIE, Turrialba, Costa Rica.
• Zhang 2003Zhang 2003:
  Zhang Z-Q. 2003. Mites of greenhouses: Identification, biology and control. CABI Publishing, Wallingford. 244 pp.

Videos