The Holothyrida are a small order of
mites
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 evi ...
in the superorder
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 ...
. No fossils are known. With body lengths of more than they are relatively large mites, with a heavily
sclerotized body. It is divided into three families, Allothyridae, Holothyridae, and Neothyridae. In a 1998 experimental study, members of the family Allothyridae were found to ignore living animals but readily fed on the body fluids of death
arthropods
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chitin, oft ...
.
The order has a distribution largely confined to former
Gondwana
Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final st ...
n landmasses. They are the
sister group
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree.
Definition
The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram:
Taxon A and ...
to
Ixodida
Ticks (order Ixodida) are parasitic arachnids that are part of the mite superorder Parasitiformes. Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length depending on age, sex, species, and "fullness". Ticks are external parasites, living by ...
(ticks).
[Dobson & Barker 1999]
Systematics
Allothyridae
Allothyridae
van der Hammen, 1972 —
Australia, New Zealand
* ''
Allothyrus''
van der Hammen, 1961
:* ''
Allothyrus australasiae''
(Womersley, 1935)
:* ''
Allothyrus constrictus''
(Domrow, 1955)
* ''
Australothyrus''
van der Hammen, 1983
:* ''
Australothyrus ocellatus''
van der Hammen, 1983
Holothyridae
Holothyridae
Thorell, 1882 Sri Lanka, Indian Ocean islands, New Guinea, New Caledonia
* ''
Sternothyrus''
Lehtinen, 1995
** ''
Sternothyrus braueri''
(Thon, 1905) —
Seychelles
Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...
* ''
Lindothyrus''
Lehtinen, 1995
** ''
Lindothyrus elongatus''
Lehtinen, 1995 —
Lord Howe Island
Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland ...
** ''
Lindothyrus rubellus''
Lehtinen, 1995 —
New Caledonia
* ''
Indothyrus''
Lehtinen, 1995
** ''
Indothyrus greeni''
Lehtinen, 1995 —
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
* ''
Haplothyrus''
Lehtinen, 1995
**''
Haplothyrus expolitissimus''
(Berlese, 1924) — New Caledonia
** ''
Haplothyrus hyatti''
Lehtinen, 1995 — unknown locality
* ''
Holothyrus''
Gervais, 1842 —
Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...
** ''
Holothyrus coccinella''
Gervais, 1842
** ''
Holothyrus legendrei''
Hammen, 1983
* ''
Hammenius''
Lehtinen, 1981
** ''
Hammenius armatus''
(Canestrini, 1897) —
Tamara Island (
Aitape
Aitape is a small town of about 18,000 people on the north coast of Papua New Guinea in the Sandaun Province. It is a coastal settlement that is almost equidistant from the provincial capitals of Wewak and Vanimo, and marks the midpoint of the ...
): New Guinea
** ''
Hammenius berlesei''
(Lehtinen, 1995) — New Guinea
** ''
Hammenius braueri''
(Thon, 1906)
** ''
Hammenius fujuge''
Lehtinen, 1981 —
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...
(Central District, Oro Province)
** ''
Hammenius grandjeani''
(Hammen, 1961) —
Mount Bosavi
Mount Bosavi is a mountain in the Southern Highlands province, Papua New Guinea. It is the collapsed cone of an extinct volcano on the Great Papuan Plateau, part of the Kikori River basin.Feld, pp.3–4 The crater is approximately 4 km wid ...
: New Guinea
** ''
Hammenius holthuisi''
van der Hammen, 1983
** ''
Hammenius ingii''
Lehtinen, 1981 — New Guinea
** ''
Hammenius insularis''
Lehtinen, 1995 —
Louisiade Archipelago
The Louisiade Archipelago is a string of ten larger volcanic islands frequently fringed by coral reefs, and 90 smaller coral islands in Papua New Guinea.
It is located 200 km southeast of New Guinea, stretching over more than and spread ...
: New Guinea
** ''
Hammenius longipes''
(Thorell, 1882) — Fly River, New Guinea (?)
** ''
Hammenius mendi''
(Lehtinen, 1995) —
Strickland River: New Guinea
** ''
Hammenius montanus''
Hammen, 1983 —
Irian Jaya
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...
** ''
Hammenius niger''
(Thon, 1906)
Neothyridae
Neothyridae
Lehtinen, 1981 Northern South America and the Caribbean
* ''
Diplothyrus''
Lehtinen, 1999 Brazil, French Guiana
** ''
Diplothyrus schubarti''
Lehtinen, 1999
** ''Diplothyrus lecorrei''
Klompen 2010
** ''Diplothyrus lehtineni''
Vázquez & de Araújo & Feres 2016
* ''
Neothyrus''
Lehtinen, 1981 Peru
** ''
Neothyrus ana''
Lehtinen, 1981
*''
Caribothyrus''
Kontschán & Mahunka 2004 Dominican Republic
**
''Caribothyrus barbatus'' Kontschán & Mahunka 2004
Footnotes
References
*Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog
Holothyrida* Bruce Halliday
Order Holothyrida*Lehtinen, Pekka T. (1995): Revision of the old world Holothyridae (Arachnida : Anactinotrichida : Holothyrina). ''Invertebrate Taxonomy'' 9(4): 767-826.
*Walter, D. E. & Proctor, H. C. (1998): Feeding behaviour and phylogeny: observations on early derivative Acari. ''Exp. Appl. Acarol'' 22: 39-50.
*Dobson, S. J. & Barker, S. C. (1999): Phylogeny of the hard ticks (Ixodidae) inferred from 18S rRNA indicates that the genus ''
Aponomma
''Aponomma'' is a genus of ticks belonging to the family Ixodidae
The Ixodidae are the family of hard ticks or scale ticks, one of the three families of ticks, consisting of over 700 species. They are known as 'hard ticks' because they have a s ...
'' is paraphyletic. ''Mol. Phylogenet. Evol'' 11: 288-295
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1139948
Parasitiformes
Arachnid orders