Abstract
BackgroundMites of the family Microdispidae (Acari: Prostigmata: Heterostigmata) are fungivorous, usually living in soil, litter, decaying plant materials, and similar substrates, and adult females have phoretic associations with arthropods, particularly insects. The family Microdispidae is poorly studied, and because of the vague descriptions of most of the genera and species, the taxonomy of this family is in a state of confusion. Previous to this study, more than 109 microdispid species in 17 genera have been described worldwide.ResultsIn this study, a new genus, Neomicrodispus gen. nov. (Acari: Microdispidae) (type species Neomicrodispus iranicus sp. nov.) is described and illustrated based on phoretic females recovered from Oryctes nasicornis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), which were collected from the forests in northern Iran. Also, the monotypic genus Vietodispus Mahunka, 1975 (type species Vietodispus calcaratus) is redescribed based on its holotype lent from the Hungarian Natural History Museum. The representatives of the family Microdispidae associated with arthropods are reviewed.ConclusionsThere are now 18 genera of this family worldwide that are primarily defined by reductions in their morphology. Because of poor description of some genera and species, synonymies or decreasing in systematic ranks may be expected. A review of arthropod associations, provided in this paper, showed that these mites are primarily associated with ants and beetles, where a rich source of various kinds of fungi particles is easily obtained.
Highlights
Mites of the family Microdispidae (Acari: Prostigmata: Heterostigmata) are fungivorous, usually living in soil, litter, decaying plant materials, and similar substrates, and adult females have phoretic associations with arthropods, insects
The cohort Heterostigmata, one of the two cohorts placed in the supercohort Eleutherengonides (Acari: Prostigmata) (Walter et al 2009), mostly includes small mites associated with various arthropods
The representatives of the family Microdispidae associated with arthropods are reviewed
Summary
Mites of the family Microdispidae (Acari: Prostigmata: Heterostigmata) are fungivorous, usually living in soil, litter, decaying plant materials, and similar substrates, and adult females have phoretic associations with arthropods, insects. The cohort Heterostigmata, one of the two cohorts placed in the supercohort Eleutherengonides (Acari: Prostigmata) (Walter et al 2009), mostly includes small mites associated with various arthropods. They are fungivores, parasites, parasitoids, and sometimes phytophages. Based on Khaustov (2008), the family Microdispidae (Acari: Heterostigmata) is a member of the superfamily Pygmephoroidea. These mites inhabit soil, litter, decaying plant materials, and family Microdispidae associated with arthropods are reviewed
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