The Prostigmata is a suborder of

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

s belonging to the order

Trombidiformes The Trombidiformes are a large, diverse order of mites. Taxonomy In 1998, Trombidiformes was divided into the Sphaerolichida and the Prostigmata. The group has few synapomorphies by which it can be defined, unlike the other major group of aca ...

, which contains the "sucking" members of the "true mites" (

Acariformes The Acariformes, also known as the Actinotrichida, are the most diverse of the two superorders of mites. Over 32,000 described species are found in 351 families, with an estimated total of 440,000 to 929,000 species, including undescribed speci ...

). Many

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

are notorious

pest Pest or The Pest may refer to: Science and medicine * Pest (organism), an animal or plant deemed to be detrimental to humans or human concerns ** Weed, a plant considered undesirable * Infectious disease, an illness resulting from an infection ** ...

s on

plant Plants are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all curr ...

s. Well-known examples of prostigmatan plant

parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of lif ...

s are species of the gall mites (

Eriophyidae Eriophyidae is a family of more than 200 genera of mites, which live as plant parasites, commonly causing galls or other damage to the plant tissues and hence known as gall mites. About 3,600 species have been described, but this is probably l ...

, e.g. the redberry mite ''

Acalitus essigi ''Acalitus essigi'', the redberry mite, is an Eriophyidae, eriophyid mite which is a serious pest of commercially produced blackberry, blackberries in the United States. The redberry mite is microscopic, requiring at least a 20× hand lens to det ...

''),

Tarsonemidae Tarsonemidae is a family of mites, also called thread-footed mites or white mites. Only a limited number of tarsonemid genera ('' Steneotarsonemus'', '' Polyphagotarsonemus'', '' Phytonemus'', '' Floridotarsonemus'' and ''Tarsonemus'') are known ...

(e.g. the cyclamen mite, '' Steneotarsonemus pallidus''), and the

spider mite Spider mites are members of the Tetranychidae family, which includes about 1,200 species. They are part of the subclass Acari (mites). Spider mites generally live on the undersides of leaves of plants, where they may spin protective silk webs, ...

s of the Tetranychidae (e.g. the two-spotted spider mite, ''

Tetranychus urticae ''Tetranychus urticae'' (common names include red spider mite and two-spotted spider mite) is a species of plant-feeding mite generally considered to be a pest. It is the most widely known member of the family Tetranychidae or spider mites. Its ...

''). Other Prostigmata live as parasites on

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxon, taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with vertebral column, backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the ...

s (e.g. ''

Demodex ''Demodex'' is a genus of tiny mites that live in or near hair follicles of mammals. Around 65 species of ''Demodex'' are known. Two species live on humans: '' Demodex folliculorum'' and '' Demodex brevis'', both frequently referred to as eyel ...

'' mites of the Demodecidae) or

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s (e.g. ''

Polydiscia deuterosminthurus ''Polydiscia deuterosminthurus'' is a species of mite recently discovered in the autonomous community of Navarre in Spain. Only the six-legged larval stage is so far known. This lives as a parasite on the springtail ''Deuterosminthurus bisetosus ...

'' of the Tanaupodidae or the honeybee tracheal mite, ''

Acarapis woodi ''Acarapis woodi'' is an internal parasite affecting honey bees, the symptoms of infestation was originally observed on the Isle of Wight in 1904, but was not described until 1921. ''Acarapis woodi'' mites live and reproduce in the tracheae of ...

'', of the Tarsonemidae). There are also some forms (e.g. Smarididae) that are

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

s of small invertebrates – including smaller Prostigmata – yet others have a more varied lifestyle (e.g.

Tydeidae Tydeidae is a family of acariform mites. As of 2016, it contained over 300 species in three subfamilies, though more species have been discovered since then. These mites live in a wide range of habitats and there are predatory, fungivorous a ...

) or switch their food sources as they mature (e.g. Erythraeidae). The suborder also includes the family

Halacaridae Halacaridae is a family of meiobenthic mites found in marine, brackish, and freshwater habitats around the world. It includes more than 1100 described species belonging to 64 genera It is the largest marine radiation of arachnids. Description ...

(marine mites). Some of the Prostigmata parasitizing vertebrates are of medical relevance due to causing skin diseases in humans. These include for example

harvest mite Trombiculidae (); commonly referred to in North America as chiggers and in Britain as harvest mites, but also known as berry bugs, bush-mites, red bugs or scrub-itch mites, are a family of mites. Chiggers are often confused with jiggers – a t ...

s ("chiggers") of the Trombiculidae.

Systematics and taxonomy

The Prostigmata make up the bulk of the acariform clade

, which also contains the minor and quite ancient lineage

Sphaerolichida The Sphaerolichida is a suborder of mites belonging to the order Trombidiformes The Trombidiformes are a large, diverse order of mites. Taxonomy In 1998, Trombidiformes was divided into the Sphaerolichida and the Prostigmata. The group has ...

. The trombidiform mites are possibly the most promising approach to untangle the

systematics Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: cladograms, phylogenetic t ...

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

and

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spe ...

of the notoriously complex Acariformes. Trombidiformes and the other acariform clade,

Sarcoptiformes The Sarcoptiformes are an order of Acari comprising over 15,000 described species in around 230 families. Previously it was divided into two suborders, Oribatida and Astigmatina, but Oribatida has been promoted to an order, and Astigmatina i ...

, were formerly considered

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

s but this does not allow for a sufficiently precise classification of the mites and is adjusted in more modern treatments. They contain a few of the little-known "

Endeostigmata Endeostigmata is a suborder of acariform mites. There are about ten families in Endeostigmata. The grouping is strongly suspected to be paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most ...

" – apparently an assemblage of several specialized but unrelated lineages – which for the most part appear to be Sarcoptiformes however. In addition, the Trombidiformes include the bulk of the presumed group of mites called "Actinedida". This

taxon In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...

is still commonly encountered in systematic treatments. However, modern

cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups (" clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived ch ...

studies time and again fail to find any

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic ...

group corresponding to the "Actinedida". Thus, they appear to be an

evolutionary grade A grade is a taxon united by a level of morphological or physiological complexity. The term was coined by British biologist Julian Huxley, to contrast with clade, a strictly phylogenetic unit. Definition An evolutionary grade is a group of s ...

rather than an evolutionary lineage, united not by their

apomorph In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to hav ...

ies but by the lack of such characters that have evolved after the Acariformes separated from the

Parasitiformes Parasitiformes are a superorder of Arachnids, constituting one of the two major groups of mites, alongside Acariformes. Parasitiformes has, at times, been classified at the rank of order or suborder. It is uncertain whether Parasitiformes and Ac ...

. Thus, the "Actinedida" seem to be a massively

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

wastebin taxon Wastebasket taxon (also called a wastebin taxon, dustbin taxon or catch-all taxon) is a term used by some taxonomists to refer to a taxon that has the sole purpose of classifying organisms that do not fit anywhere else. They are typically define ...

", uniting all Acariformes that are not "typical"

Oribatida Oribatida (formerly Cryptostigmata), also known as oribatid mites, moss mites or beetle mites, are an order of mites, in the "chewing Acariformes" clade Sarcoptiformes. They range in size from . There are currently 12,000 species that have been i ...

and Astigmata. The Prostigmata present their own taxonomic and systematic problems even in the redefined

delimitation Boundary delimitation (or simply delimitation) is the drawing of boundaries, particularly of electoral precincts, states, counties or other municipalities.

. They are variously subdivided into the Anystina and Eleutherengona, and Eupodina. The delimitation and interrelationships of these groups are entirely unclear; while most analyses find one of the latter two but not the other to be a subgroup of the Anystina, neither of these mutually contradicting hypotheses is very robust; possibly this is a simple error because phylogenetic software usually fails in handling non-

dichotomous A dichotomy is a partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets). In other words, this couple of parts must be * jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and * mutually exclusive: nothing can belong simul ...

phylogenies. Consequently it may be best for the time being to consider each of the three main prostigmatan lineages to be equally distinct from the other two, not including either Eleutherengona or Eupodina in the Anystina in accord with the traditional view – the

Anystina are here considered the largest possible clade containing the

Anystidae Anystidae is a family of mites, based on the genus '' Anystis''. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, cosmopolitan distribution is the term for the range of a taxon that extends across all or most of the world in appro ...

but no taxon assigned to the other two suborders.

Currently accepted taxonomy

Catalogue of Life The Catalogue of Life is an online database that provides an index of known species of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms. It was created in 2001 as a partnership between the global Species 2000 and the American Integrated Taxonomic I ...

and

Integrated Taxonomic Information System The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is an American partnership of federal agencies designed to provide consistent and reliable information on the taxonomy of biological species. ITIS was originally formed in 1996 as an interagenc ...

accept the following taxonomy for Prostigmata, including four infraorders:

Anystina

* Superfamily

Adamystoidea Adamystidae is a family of mites in the order Trombidiformes. There are at least three genera, one of which is extinct, in Adamystidae. It is the sole family in the monotypic superfamily Adamystoidea. Genera These three genera belong to the fam ...

* Superfamily Allotanaupodoidea * Superfamily Amphotrombioidea * Superfamily

Anystoidea Anystoidea is a superfamily of mites in the order Trombidiformes The Trombidiformes are a large, diverse order of mites. Taxonomy In 1998, Trombidiformes was divided into the Sphaerolichida and the Prostigmata. The group has few synapomorp ...

* Superfamily Arrenuroidea * Superfamily

Caeculoidea Caeculidae, also known as rake-legged mites, is a family of mites in the order Trombidiformes, the only family of the superfamily Caeculoidea. There are about 9 genera and about 100 described species in Caeculidae which occur world-wide. The olde ...

* Superfamily

Calyptostomatoidea ''Calyptostoma'' is a genus of mites in the family Calyptostomatidae. There are about six described species in ''Calyptostoma''. Species These six species belong to the genus ''Calyptostoma'': * ''Calyptostoma giuliae ''Calyptostoma'' is a ...

* Superfamily Chyzerioidea * Superfamily Erythraeoidea * Superfamily Eylaoidea * Superfamily

Hydrachnoidea ''Hydrachna'' is a genus of mites in the family Hydrachnidae, the sole genus of the family. There are more than 80 described species in ''Hydrachna''. Species These 87 species belong to the genus ''Hydrachna'': * ''Hydrachna analis'' Viets & K. ...

* Superfamily Hydrovolzioidea * Superfamily

Hydryphantoidea Hydryphantoidea is a superfamily of mites in the order Trombidiformes. There are about 6 families and more than 250 described species in Hydryphantoidea. Families These six families belong to the superfamily Hydryphantoidea: * Ctenothyadidae ...

* Superfamily

Hygrobatoidea Hygrobatoidea is a superfamily of water mites found in North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the e ...

* Superfamily Lebertioidea * Superfamily Paratydeoidea * Superfamily Pomerantzioidea * Superfamily Stygothrombioidea * Superfamily Tanaupodoidea * Superfamily Trombiculoidea * Superfamily

Trombidioidea Trombidioidea is a superfamily of mites in the order Trombidiformes. There are about 8 families and at least 430 described species in Trombidioidea. Families These eight families belong to the superfamily Trombidioidea: * Eutrombidiidae * Johns ...

* Superfamily Yurebilloidea

Eleutherengona

(Also known as

Eleutherengonides Eleutherengonides is a group of mites, ranked as a "supercohort", between the taxonomic rank of order (biology), order and family (biology), family. Superfamilies and families * Paratydeidae * Eriophyoidea * Iolinoidea * Heterostigmatina ** Athy ...

) * Superfamily

Cheyletoidea Cheyletoidea is a superfamily of mites in the order Trombidiformes. They are parasites of other arthropods and vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxon, taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with vertebral column, ba ...

* Superfamily Cloacaroidea * Superfamily Dolichocyboidea * Superfamily Heterocheyloidea * Superfamily Myobioidea * Superfamily Pterygosomatoidea * Superfamily Pyemotoidea * Superfamily

Raphignathoidea Raphignathoidea is a superfamily of the Acari (mite) order Trombidiformes, comprising 1087 species in 62 genera and 12 families. Morphology Adult Raphignathoidea are generally oval or round in shape, with 2 pairs of vertical setae on the prod ...

* Superfamily Scutacaroidea * Superfamily Tarsocheyloidea * Superfamily Tarsonemoidea * Superfamily Tetranychoidea * Superfamily Trochometridioidea

Eupodina

* Superfamily

Bdelloidea Bdelloidea (Greek ''βδέλλα'', ''bdella'', "leech") is a class of rotifers found in freshwater habitats all over the world. There are over 450 described species of bdelloid rotifers (or 'bdelloids'), distinguished from each other mainly ...

* Superfamily

Eriophyoidea Eriophyoidea are a superfamily of herbivorous mites. All post-embryonic instars lack the third and fourth pairs of legs. The respiratory system is also absent. The taxonomy of this group has always been confused. There were families created for ...

* Superfamily Eupodoidea * Superfamily Halacaroidea * Superfamily Tydeoidea

Labidostommatina

* Superfamily Labidostommatoidea: monotypic family

Labidostommatidae Labidostommatidae is a family of acariform mites. These egg-shaped free-living predators have the body completely covered with sclerotized plates, often with a reticulated pattern, two or three eyes and two claws on each tarsus. Genera ''Bio ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q137929 Trombidiformes Arthropod suborders