Order Oribatida - Oribatids

Classification · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Food · Remarks · Works Cited

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)

Class Arachnida (Arachnids)

Subclass Acari (Mites and Ticks)

Superorder Acariformes

Order Oribatida (Oribatids)

Other Common Names

Armored Mites, Beetle Mites, Moss Mites(1), seed mites(2)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Cryptostigmata

Explanation of Names

Oribatida van der Hammen 1968

Numbers

ca. 1200 spp. in >300 genera of over 100 families in our area, ~16,500 described spp. in ~2,400 genera of ~250 families and ~50 superfamilies worldwide(3)

one of the most numerically dominant arthropod groups in the organic horizons of most soils, where their densities can reach several hundred thousand individuals per square meter (Norton 1990) "...we estimate we still know only a quarter of the Canadian fauna at the species level..."(4)

world catalog in(5)

Food

Leaf litter -- can consume about 20% of its weight in leaf litter every day.(2)

Remarks

Can have 50,000 to 500,000 mites per square meter of leaf litter.(6)

These mites have hard, stout exoskeletons and many have cuticular flaps where they tuck their appendages away from predators. They also have a toxic secretion from the opisthonotal gland on their dorsal surfaces.(6)

Seed mites are 1 of 2 main groups of orbatid mites: those that close up their shells like clams and those that do not.(2)

Works Cited

1.	A manual of acarology, 3rd Ed. G.W. Krantz and D.E. Walter. 2009. Texas Tech University Press.

2.	The World Beneath our Feet: A Guide to Life in the Soil James B. Nardi. 2003. Oxford University Press.

3.	Suborder Oribatida van der Hammen, 1968. In: Zhang Z.-Q. (ed.) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification... Schatz H., Behan-Pelletier V.M., O'Connor B.M., Norton R.A. 2011. Zootaxa 3148: 141–148.

4.	Behan-Pelletier V.M., Eamer B. (-2014) Diversity of Oribatida in Canada

5.	Listado de los ácaros oribátidos (Acariformes, Oribatida) de las diferentes regiones biogeográficas del mundo Subías L.S., Shtanchaeva U.Ya., Arillo A. 2012. Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa, Monografías electrónicas S.E.A. 4: 1-815.

6.	Hidden Company that Trees Keep: Life from Treetops to Root Tips James B. Nardi. 2023. Princeton University Press.

Contributed by Jim McClarin on 28 December, 2006 - 7:05pm
Additional contributions by Theridula, Vox Sciurorum, v belov, Marci Hess, Kyhl Austin
Last updated 17 November, 2023 - 12:16pm

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