Mite - BugGuide.Net

Socalled Cunaxidae mites

The mites shown in your photos do not belong to the family Cunaxidae but to the family Bdellidae. Both families belong to the superfamily Bdelloidea. To verify my remark and identification consult: Krantz& Walter 2009, A Manual of Acarology.
Jacob Den Heyer
Specialist on Cunaxidae

… jacob.den.heyer@gmail.com, 24 February, 2010 - 10:09am

Thanks for your comments

These photos are actually already in the Bdellidae section. You can see where BugGuide images are placed by looking at the string of hyperlinks above the image.

… Charley Eiseman, 1 June, 2011 - 9:51pm

Moved

Moved from Predatory Mites.

… Jim McClarin, 29 January, 2007 - 8:47pm

Family Cunaxidae

Greetings,
Gerard Pennards

… Gerard Pennards, 15 April, 2005 - 10:25am

Are these sometimes referred to as predatory mites, because they feed on other mites?
KSM

… Kerry S. Matz, 16 April, 2005 - 9:28am

Predatory mites

Hello Kerry
Just like in other animal groups there are herbivores and carnivores among mites! Among these carnivores there are for sure also mites that hunt and eat other mites when they find them on their way!
This family Cunaxidae is seen as a predator of Collembola, they hunt them, spear them on their long snouts and eat them!
They have to be quick, because Collembolans are excellent jumpers!
Greetings,
Gerard Pennards

… Gerard Pennards, 16 April, 2005 - 9:41am

Collembola and ?

Gerard,
That would be quite a photograph, the mite spearing a collembola. I've tried photographing collembola, just when you achieve focus and snap the picture, there's nothing there. Nice pictures of dirt and debri though. Might be worth staging an "event" to photograph.
What order would Cunaxidae be placed in?
KSM

… Kerry S. Matz, 17 April, 2005 - 2:22pm

Order is Acari

The Order in which Cunaxidae is in is Acari (Mites)
Greetings,
Gerard Pennards

… Gerard Pennards, 17 April, 2005 - 3:25pm

Acari

Thanks Gerard. Now I'll put these in the Acari section of the guide.

… tom murray, 17 April, 2005 - 7:49pm