Opilioacaridae

Opilioacaridae
Temporal range: Cenomanian–Recent
Specimens of Opilioacarus baeticus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Superorder: Parasitiformes
Order: Opilioacarida
Superfamily: Opilioacaroidea
Johnston, 1968
Family: Opilioacaridae
With, 1902
Synonyms
  • Notostigmata
  • Onychopalpida
  • Opilioacariformes
Specimens of Neocarus proteus

Opilioacaridae is the sole family of mites in the order Opilioacarida, made up of about 14 genera. The mites of this family are rare, large (1.5 to 2.5 mm) mites, and are widely considered primitive, as they retain six pairs of eyes, and abdominal segmentation. They have historically been considered separate from other mites belonging to Acariformes and Parasitiformes, but are now generally considered a subgroup of Parasitiformes based on molecular phylogenetics.

The first member of the Opilioacarida to be discovered was the Algerian species Opilioacarus segmentatus, which was described by Carl Johannes With in 1902, followed by the Sicilian Eucarus italicus and Eucarus arabicus from Aden, both in 1904. Two fossil specimens are known, one of which was discovered in Baltic amber from the Eocene, while the other one was discovered in the Burmese amber from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) around 99 million years old, tentatively assigned to the living genus Opilioacarus.

Members of the group live in semi-arid and tropical environments in leaf-litter, under rocks and in caves. Their diet is known to include arthropod carcasses, fungal spores, and pollen.

Genera

These 14 genera belong to the family Opilioacaridae:

References

  1. 1 2 "Opilioacaridae". GBIF. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
  2. ↑ Beaulieu, Frédéric (2011). Zhang, Zhi-Qiang (ed.). "Superorder Parasitiformes: In: Zhang, Z-Q. (ed.) Animal biodiversity: an outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness". Zootaxa. 3148. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3148.1.23. ISBN 978-1-86977-849-1. ISSN 1175-5326.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
  3. ↑ De Araújo, M. S.; Palma, A. D.; Feres, R. J. F. (2020). "Catalog of the Opilioacarida (Acari: Parasitiformes)". Zootaxa. 4895 (3). doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4895.3.2. hdl:11449/206987. PMID 33756891. S2CID 230560703.
  4. ↑ Moraza, M. L.; Cuesta-Segura, A. D. (2026). "A new six-eyed genus and species of Opilioacarida (Acari: Parasitiformes) for Southern Europe with an overview of the group and updated genus key". Systematic and Applied Acarology. 31 (3): 500–528. doi:10.11158/saa.31.3.13.
  5. ↑ J. A. Dunlop & G. Alberti (2008). "The affinities of mites and ticks: a review" (PDF). Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. 46 (1): 1–18. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.496.5455. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0469.2007.00429.x. {{cite journal}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |citeseerx= (help)
  6. ↑ Vázquez, Maria Magdalena; Ávila Herrera, Ivalú Macarena; Just, Pavel; Reyes Lerma, Azucena Claudia; Chatzaki, Maria; Heller, Tim Lukas; Král, Jiří (2021-09-30). "A new opilioacarid species (Parasitiformes: Opilioacarida) from Crete (Greece) with notes on its karyotype". Acarologia. 61 (3): 548–563. doi:10.24349/acarologia/20214449. S2CID 236270478.
  7. ↑ Mark S. Harvey (2002). "The neglected cousins: what do we know about the smaller arachnid orders?" (PDF). Journal of Arachnology. 30 (2): 357–372. doi:10.1636/0161-8202(2002)030[0357:TNCWDW]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 59047074. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-07.
  8. ↑ Jason A. Dunlop; Jörg Wunderlich & George O. Poinar Jr. (2003). "The first fossil opilioacariform mite (Acari: Opilioacariformes) and the first Baltic amber camel spider (Solifugae)". Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences. 94 (3): 261–273. doi:10.1017/S0263593300000663. S2CID 85646963.
  9. ↑ Jason A. Dunlop & Leopoldo Ferreira de Oliveira Bernardi (2014). "An opilioacarid mite in Cretaceous Burmese amber". Naturwissenschaften. 101 (9): 759–763. Bibcode:2014NW....101..759D. doi:10.1007/s00114-014-1212-0. PMID 25027588. S2CID 253637881.
  10. ↑ Moraza, María L.; Prieto, Carlos E.; Balanzategui, Iñaki (2021-03-30). "A new species of the genus Opilioacarus With, 1902 (Acari: Opilioacarida) for the Iberian Peninsula". Acarologia. 61 (1): 128–147. doi:10.24349/acarologia/20214422. S2CID 233786254.