FNZ 52 - Raphignathoidea (Acari: Prostigmata) - Introduction
Fan, Q-H; Zhang, Z-Q 2005. Raphignathoidea (Acari: Prostigmata). Fauna of New Zealand 52, 400 pages.
(
ISSN 0111-5383 (print),
;
no.
52.
ISBN 0-478-09371-3 (print),
).
Published 20 May 2005
ZooBank: http://zoobank.org/References/5F7C5C50-9D70-459B-BE40-F7CB5D5E5DFE
Introduction
Historical review
The Raphignathoidea is one of the old groups of the Acari, which can be dated back at least 56.5 million years. A camerobiid mite, Neophyllobius succineus Bolland & Magowski, was discovered in Baltic amber of the Upper Eocene (Bolland & Magowski 1990). The first existent species, Stigmaeus siculus Berlese, 1883 (= Acarus rubens Schrank 1781) was described two centuries ago.
Raphignathoidea belongs to the mite superorder Acariformes, order Prostigmata. The superfamily was proposed by Grandjean (1944) to accommodate three families: Raphignathidae Kramer, 1877, Stigmaeidae Oudemans, 1931, and Caligonellidae Grandjean, 1944. Baker & Wharton (1952) placed the Stigmaeidae and Caligonellidae into synonymy with the Raphignathidae. Cunliffe (1955) first characterised the superfamily based on an analysis of leg tarsi, gnathosoma, genitalia, palps, and dorsal idiosomal setation, and then added Cryptognathidae Oudemans, 1902 and Pomerantziidae Baker, 1949 to the superfamily; he also mentioned that the latter might belong elsewhere. Southcott (1957) emendated the definition of the superfamily and added two families, Camerobiidae and Neophyllobiidae. Meyer & Ryke (1960) also made emendations to the superfamily. Summers (1966a) included three families, Eupalopsellidae Willmann, 1952, Camerobiidae Southcott, 1957, and Neophyllobiidae Southcott, 1957, excluded Pomerantziidae and gave the first practical key to the families. Wood (1969) erected a new family, Homocaligidae, from elements previously placed in Stigmaeidae. Gerson (1972b) synonymised the Neophyllobiidae with Camerobiidae. Robaux (1975) erected a new family, Barbutiidae, from elements previously placed in Stigmaeidae. Gonzalez (1978) erected a new family, Xenocaligonellididae (= Xenocaligonellidae), which was previously included in Caligonellidae. Krantz (1978) included Pomerantziidae in the superfamily again, but his opinion has not been followed by most acarologists. Gerson & Walter (1998) added the tenth family and provided a key to the families. More recently, a new family, Dasythyreidae was erected by Walter & Gerson (1998). Thus the total number of families became eleven (Table 1) and the superfamily currently consists of about 770 valid species in 57 genera.
Modern research on the superfamily was initiated by Summers and his students (1957–1966) and Wood (1964–1981). A series of reviews/revisions at the level of the genus or family, especially on the family Stigmaeidae, were published.
In New Zealand, the taxonomic studies on this superfamily started in the mid 1960s (Wood 1964a, 1964b). Wood subsequently published a series of studies on Stigmaeidae (1966, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971b, 1971c, 1981). Luxton (1973) described three new species of the Cryptognathidae and Bolland (1991) described a new species of the Camerobiidae. Two more articles on Stigmaeidae were recently published by Fan & Zhang (2002a, 2002b).