Holothyrida
Sign in to saveThe Holothyrida are a small order of mites in the superorder Parasitiformes. 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 dead arthropods, making them scavengers.
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Systematics
- Allothyridae
- Holothyridae
- Neothyridae
- Footnotes
- References
The Holothyrida are a small order of mites in the superorder Parasitiformes. 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 dead arthropods, making them scavengers.
The order has a distribution largely confined to former Gondwanan landmasses. They are the sister group to Ixodida (ticks).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Holothyrida” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.