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A mite also holds a speed record: for its length, Paratarsotomus macropalpis is the fastest animal on Earth. [40] The mites living in soil consist of a range of taxa. Oribatida and Prostigmata are more numerous in soil than Mesostigmata, and have more soil-dwelling species. [41]
Mesostigmata is an order of mites belonging to the Parasitiformes. They are by far the largest group of Parasitiformes, with over 8,000 species in 130 families. Mesostigmata includes parasitic as well as free-living and predatory forms. They can be recognized by the single pair of spiracles positioned laterally on the body.
The superfamily Eriophyoidea, traditionally considered members of the Trombidiformes, have been found to be basal mites in genomic analyses, sister to the clade containing Sarcoptiformes and Trombidiformes. [2] The 2004 classification retained the two suborders, comprising around 125 families and more than 22,000 described species. [3]
Soil mesofauna are invertebrates between 0.1mm and 2mm in size, [1] which live in the soil or in a leaf litter layer on the soil surface. Members of this group include nematodes , mites , springtails (collembola), proturans , pauropods , rotifers , earthworms , tardigrades , small spiders , pseudoscorpions , opiliones (harvestmen ...
The phytoseiid mites, which account for about 15% of all described Mesostigmata are used with great success for biological control. There are over 12,000 described species of Parasitiformes, and the total estimate is between 100,000 and 200,000 species.
The Oribatida are of economic importance as hosts of various tapeworm species, [8] and by increasing the breakdown of organic material in the soil, in a similar manner to earthworms. [9] Many species of oribatid mites require extremely specific habitats, resulting in large diversity within the order due to the many niches they evolve to.
Stratiolaelaps scimitus and the similar species, S. aculiefer are soil-dwelling, predatory mites. Stratiolaelaps mites feed on fungus gnats, springtails, thrips pupae, and other small insects in the soil. The mite is 0.5 mm (1 ⁄ 50 in) long and light-brown in color. It inhabits the top 1 ⁄ 2 inch (13 mm) layer of soil. Both nymphs and ...
The oldest fossils of acariform mites are from the Rhynie Chert, Scotland, which dates to the early Devonian, around 410 million years ago [4] [5] The Cretaceous Immensmaris chewbaccei had idiosoma of more than 8 mm (0.31 in) in length and was the largest fossil acariform mite and also the largest erythraeoid mite ever recorded.