The Prostigmata is a suborder of mites belonging to the order Trombidiformes, which contains the "sucking" members of the "true mites" (

Acariformes The Acariformes, also known as the Actinotrichida, are the most diverse of the two superorders of mites. Over 32,000 described species are found in 351 families, with an estimated total of 440,000 to 929,000 species, including undescribed specie ...

). Many

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

are notorious pests on plants. Well-known examples of prostigmatan plant parasites are species of the gall mites (

Eriophyidae Eriophyidae is a family of more than 200 genera of mites, which live as plant parasites, commonly causing galls or other damage to the plant tissues and hence known as gall mites. About 3,600 species have been described, but this is probably ...

, e.g. the redberry mite ''

Acalitus essigi ''Acalitus essigi'', the redberry mite, is an eriophyid mite which is a serious pest of commercially produced blackberries in the United States. The redberry mite is microscopic, requiring at least a 20× hand lens to detect. It has two pairs of ...

''), Tarsonemidae (e.g. the cyclamen mite, '' Steneotarsonemus pallidus''), and the spider mites of the Tetranychidae (e.g. the two-spotted spider mite, '' Tetranychus urticae''). Other Prostigmata live as parasites on vertebrates (e.g. ''

Demodex ''Demodex'' is a genus of tiny mites that live in or near hair follicles of mammals. Around 65 species of ''Demodex'' are known. Two species live on humans: '' Demodex folliculorum'' and ''Demodex brevis'', both frequently referred to as eyelas ...

'' mites of the

Demodecidae ''Demodecidae'' is a family of parasitic mites, living on various species of mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females ...

) or invertebrates (e.g. ''

Polydiscia deuterosminthurus ''Polydiscia deuterosminthurus'' is a species of mite recently discovered in the autonomous community of Navarre in Spain. Only the six-legged larval stage is so far known. This lives as a parasite on the springtail '' Deuterosminthurus biseto ...

'' of the

Tanaupodidae Tanaupodidae is a family 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 geneti ...

or the honeybee tracheal mite, ''

Acarapis woodi ''Acarapis woodi'' is an internal parasite affecting honey bees, the symptoms of infestation was originally observed on the Isle of Wight in 1904, but was not described until 1921. ''Acarapis woodi'' mites live and reproduce in the tracheae o ...

'', of the Tarsonemidae). There are also some forms (e.g.

Smarididae Smarididae is a family of mites belonging to the order Trombidiformes. These large predatory mites have long oval bodies, distinctively pointed in front. They are usually red and densely hairy with slender legs, sometimes very long. They have e ...

) that are predators of small invertebrates – including smaller Prostigmata – yet others have a more varied lifestyle (e.g.

Tydeidae Tydeidae is a family of acariform mites. As of 2016, it contained over 300 species in three subfamilies, though more species have been discovered since then. These mites live in a wide range of habitats and there are predatory, fungivorous and ...

) or switch their food sources as they mature (e.g.

Erythraeidae Erythraeidae is a family of mites belonging to the Trombidiformes. Larval forms of these mites are parasitic on various other arthropods, for example harvestmen, but the adults are free-living predators. These oval mites are rather large, usually ...

). The suborder also includes the family

Halacaridae Halacaridae is a family of meiobenthic mites found in marine, brackish, and freshwater habitats around the world. It includes more than 1100 described species belonging to 64 genera It is the largest marine radiation of arachnids. Description ...

(marine mites). Some of the Prostigmata parasitizing vertebrates are of medical relevance due to causing skin diseases in humans. These include for example

harvest mite Trombiculidae (); commonly referred to in North America as chiggers and in Britain as harvest mites, but also known as berry bugs, bush-mites, red bugs or scrub-itch mites, are a family of mites. Chiggers are often confused with jiggers – a t ...

s ("chiggers") of the Trombiculidae.

Systematics and taxonomy

The Prostigmata make up the bulk of the acariform clade Trombidiformes, which also contains the minor and quite ancient lineage

Sphaerolichida The Sphaerolichida is a suborder of mites belonging to the order Trombidiformes The Trombidiformes are a large, diverse order of mites. Taxonomy In 1998, Trombidiformes was divided into the Sphaerolichida and the Prostigmata. The group has ...

. The trombidiform mites are possibly the most promising approach to untangle the systematics, taxonomy and phylogeny of the notoriously complex Acariformes. Trombidiformes and the other acariform clade,

Sarcoptiformes The Sarcoptiformes are an order of Acari comprising over 15,000 described species in around 230 families. Previously it was divided into two suborders, Oribatida and Astigmatina, but Oribatida has been promoted to an order, and Astigmatina is ...

, were formerly considered suborders but this does not allow for a sufficiently precise classification of the mites and is adjusted in more modern treatments. They contain a few of the little-known "

Endeostigmata Endeostigmata is a suborder of acariform mites. There are about ten families in Endeostigmata. The grouping is strongly suspected to be paraphyletic In taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's last common ancestor an ...

" – apparently an assemblage of several specialized but unrelated lineages – which for the most part appear to be Sarcoptiformes however. In addition, the Trombidiformes include the bulk of the presumed group of mites called "Actinedida". This taxon is still commonly encountered in systematic treatments. However, modern

cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived cha ...

studies time and again fail to find any monophyletic group corresponding to the "Actinedida". Thus, they appear to be an evolutionary grade rather than an evolutionary lineage, united not by their

apomorph In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to have ...

ies but by the lack of such characters that have evolved after the Acariformes separated from the

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 A ...

. Thus, the "Actinedida" seem to be a massively paraphyletic " wastebin taxon", uniting all Acariformes that are not "typical"

Oribatida Oribatida (formerly Cryptostigmata), also known as oribatid mites, moss mites or beetle mites, are an order of mites, in the "chewing Acariformes" clade Sarcoptiformes. They range in size from . There are currently 12,000 species that have been ...

and

Astigmata Astigmatina is a clade of mites in the superorder Acariformes. Astigmata has been ranked as an order or suborder in the past, but was lowered to the unranked clade Astigmatina of the clade Desmonomatides (synonym Desmonomata) in the order Sarc ...

. The Prostigmata present their own taxonomic and systematic problems even in the redefined monophyletic delimitation. They are variously subdivided into the

Anystina The Prostigmata is a suborder of mites belonging to the order Trombidiformes, which contains the "sucking" members of the "true mites" (Acariformes). Many species are notorious pests on plants. Well-known examples of prostigmatan plant parasi ...

and

Eleutherengona The Prostigmata is a suborder of mites belonging to the order Trombidiformes, which contains the "sucking" members of the "true mites" (Acariformes). Many species are notorious pests on plants. Well-known examples of prostigmatan plant parasi ...

, and

Eupodina The Prostigmata is a suborder of mites belonging to the order Trombidiformes, which contains the "sucking" members of the "true mites" (Acariformes). Many species are notorious pests on plants. Well-known examples of prostigmatan plant parasi ...

. The delimitation and interrelationships of these groups are entirely unclear; while most analyses find one of the latter two but not the other to be a subgroup of the Anystina, neither of these mutually contradicting hypotheses is very robust; possibly this is a simple error because phylogenetic software usually fails in handling non- dichotomous phylogenies. Consequently it may be best for the time being to consider each of the three main prostigmatan lineages to be equally distinct from the other two, not including either Eleutherengona or Eupodina in the Anystina in accord with the traditional view – the suborder Anystina are here considered the largest possible clade containing the

Anystidae Anystidae is a family of mites, based on the genus '' Anystis''. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, cosmopolitan distribution is the term for the range of a taxon that extends across all or most of the world in appro ...

but no taxon assigned to the other two suborders.

Currently accepted taxonomy

Catalogue of Life The Catalogue of Life is an online database that provides an index of known species of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms. It was created in 2001 as a partnership between the global Species 2000 and the American Integrated Taxonomic Info ...

and Integrated Taxonomic Information System accept the following taxonomy for Prostigmata, including four infraorders:

Anystina

* Superfamily Adamystoidea * Superfamily Allotanaupodoidea * Superfamily Amphotrombioidea * Superfamily Anystoidea * Superfamily Arrenuroidea * Superfamily Caeculoidea * Superfamily Calyptostomatoidea * Superfamily Chyzerioidea * Superfamily Erythraeoidea * Superfamily Eylaoidea * Superfamily Hydrachnoidea * Superfamily Hydrovolzioidea * Superfamily Hydryphantoidea * Superfamily Hygrobatoidea * Superfamily Lebertioidea * Superfamily Paratydeoidea * Superfamily Pomerantzioidea * Superfamily Stygothrombioidea * Superfamily Tanaupodoidea * Superfamily Trombiculoidea * Superfamily Trombidioidea * Superfamily Yurebilloidea

Eleutherengona

(Also known as Eleutherengonides) * Superfamily

Cheyletoidea Cheyletoidea is a superfamily of mites in the order Trombidiformes. They are parasites of other arthropods and vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxon, taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with vertebral column, b ...

* Superfamily Cloacaroidea * Superfamily Dolichocyboidea * Superfamily Heterocheyloidea * Superfamily Myobioidea * Superfamily Pterygosomatoidea * Superfamily Pyemotoidea * Superfamily Raphignathoidea * Superfamily Scutacaroidea * Superfamily Tarsocheyloidea * Superfamily Tarsonemoidea * Superfamily Tetranychoidea * Superfamily Trochometridioidea

Eupodina

* Superfamily

Bdelloidea Bdelloidea (Greek ''βδέλλα'', ''bdella'', "leech") is a class of rotifers found in freshwater habitats all over the world. There are over 450 described species of bdelloid rotifers (or 'bdelloids'), distinguished from each other mainly ...

* Superfamily

Eriophyoidea Eriophyoidea are a superfamily of herbivorous mites. All post-embryonic instars lack the third and fourth pairs of legs. The respiratory system is also absent. The taxonomy of this group has always been confused. There were families created for ...

* Superfamily Eupodoidea * Superfamily Halacaroidea * Superfamily Tydeoidea

Labidostommatina

* Superfamily Labidostommatoidea: monotypic family Labidostommatidae

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q137929 Trombidiformes Arthropod suborders