Major mite taxa

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Taxonomy

updated 2025

Common names

spider mites, peacock mites, false spider mites.

Probability of encounter

very high

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Quarantine importance

Very high. The Tetranychoidea contains most of the important plant-parasitic mites outside of the Eupodoidea, including the spider mites and false spider mites.

Diagnosis

Most species soft-bodied, others with varying degrees of dorsaldorsal:
relating to the upper or back side; opposed to ventral.
sclerotization; mostly white, red, yellow, or green  in color. Cheliceralcheliceral:
of or pertaining to the chelicera.
bases adnate, fused mesally into a stylophorestylophore:
chelicerae formed of fused cheliceral bases bearing stylet-like movable digits as in Raphignathae (Prostigmata), e.g., the plant parasitic spider mites and their relatives (Tetranychoidea).  In predatory and parasitic Cheyletoidea and parasitic Myobiidae, the stylophore and subcapitulum are fused into a gnathosomal capsule.
(sometimes withdrawn into the bodybody:
the idiosoma of mites.
); chelicerae with fixed digitfixed digit:
the distal extension of the middle article of the chelicera; usually bearing teeth and a distal hook and opposed to the movable digit in chelate-dentate forms, but often regressed; in Mesostigmata the fixed digit may bear the pilus dentilis.
reduced and movable digit whiplike. Peritremes, when present, typically chamberedchambered:
a structure with discrete compartments, e.g., the peritremes of some ologamasids (Mesostigmata) and prostigmatans.
structures on the dorso-lateral surface of the prodorsumprodorsum:
the dorsal surface of the propodosoma.
; naso absent; prodorsal trichobothriatrichobothrium:
(pl. trichobothria) (= bothridial sensillum) an often elaborately modified seta set in a cup-like base; forms include filiform, ciliate, pectinate or variously thickened or clubbed (bat-like to globose or capitate).
absent; eye lenses usually present. Palps 4–5 segmented; with or without one or a clawclaw:
like - having a distal hook; resembling a claw.
-like setaseta:
(pl. setae, from L. = bristle) cuticular process composed of a hollow shaft (sometimes filled with a refractive material) produced from a membranous socket (the alveolus); the hair-like, spine-like, branched or variously expanded structures on the surfaces of the legs and body.  Most setae function as mechanoreceptors, but others (e.g., solenidia) are chemoreceptors or have unknown or ambiguous functions.
on the palp tibiatibia:
(pl. tibiae) the leg segment between the genu and the tarsus.
and with a thumb- or button-like subterminal palp tarsustarsus:
(pl. tarsi) the subdistal leg segment between the tibia and the pretarsus (apotele).
. Leg tarsitarsus:
(pl. tarsi) the subdistal leg segment between the tibia and the pretarsus (apotele).
usually with tenent hairs on claws or empodiumempodium:
(pl. empodia) an unpaired structure arising between the tarsal claws, ranging from pad-like to claw-like and often bearing structures such as tenent hairs, dense setulae, or taking the form of a featherclaw (Eriophyoidea)..
. Genital papillaegenital papillae:
 1-3 pairs of extrusible finger-like to button-like projections, usually retracted into in the genital vestibule of acariform mites; sometimes formed as sessile disks around the genital opening; thought to be osmoregulatory structures; modified or multiplied and dispersed over the body in many freshwater mites.  Genital papillae are absent in the larva, but may be added ontogenetically: protonymphs have one pair, deutonymphs two pairs, and tritonymphs (and adults) three pairs.  The tritonymphal pair of papillae is often lost.  The serially homologous Claparède's organ is usually present in the larvae (and prelarvae) of mites exhibiting genital papillae in nymphs and adults (Oudeman's Rule).
absent; males with an intromittent aedeagusaedeagus:
a male intromittent organ, especially when sclerotized (e.g., in Tetranycoidea, Raphignathoidea); a penis is a flexible, membranous intromittent organ, although 'penis' is often used for aedeagi (e.g., in Astigmata).
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Similar taxa

The Stigmaeidae are sometimes confused with spider mites, but these predatory mites lack the whip-likewhip-like:
long, slender and sinuous as in the posterior setae of some phytoseiid mites (Mesostigmata) or the stylets of spider mites and their relatives (Prostigmata: Tetranychoidea).
movable digits. Cryptognathidae are capable of retracting their gnathosomagnathosoma:
(= capitulum) the anteriormost part of a mite or ricinuleid, composed of the cheliceral and pedipalpal segments and separated from the body (idiosoma) by a ring of soft cuticle.
, but their cheliceralcheliceral:
of or pertaining to the chelicera.
bases are free and the movable digit is hookhook:
(as in cheliceral hook) the distal hook-like tips of chelicerae in the Mesostigmata, as opposed to cheliceral teeth.
-like.

Ecology and distribution

The Tetranychoidea are plant-associated mites, and includes the infamous spider mites (Tetranychidae). Tetranychoid species that feed on grasses or pasture legumes may occasionally appear in soil samples.

References

• Beard et al. 2003Beard et al. 2003:
  Beard JJ, Walter DE, and Allsopp P. 2003. Spider mites of sugarcane in Australia: A review of grass-feeding Oligonychus Berlese (Acari: Prostigmata: Tetranychidae) with the description of four new species. Australian Journal of Entomology 42: 51-78.
• Bolland et al. 1998Bolland et al. 1998:
  Bolland HR, Gutierrez J, Flechtmann CHW. 1998. World catalogue of the spider mite family (Acari: Tetranychidae). Brill, Leiden.
• Evans et al. 1993Evans et al. 1993:
  Evans GA, Cromroy HL, and Ochoa R. 1993. The Tenuipalpidae of Honduras (Tenuipalpidae: Acari). Florida Entomologist 76: 126-155.
• Helle and Sabelis 1985Helle and Sabelis 1985:
  Helle W and Sabelis MW, eds. 1985. Spider mites: Their biology, natural enemies, and control. World Crop Pests, Vol. 1A. Elsevier, New York.
• Hislop and Jeppson 1976Hislop and Jeppson 1976:
  Hislop RG and Jeppson LR. 1976. Morphology of the mouthparts of several species of phytophagous mites. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 69: 1125-1135.
• Jeppson et al. 1975Jeppson et al. 1975:
  Jeppson LR, Keifer HH, and Baker EW. 1975. Mites injurious to economic plants. University of California Press, Berkeley.
• Krantz 1978Krantz 1978:
  Krantz GW. 1978. A manual of acarology [2nd ed.]. Oregon State University Book Stores, Corvallis.
• Meyer 1979Meyer 1979:
  Meyer MKPS. 1979. The Tenuipalpidae (Acari) of Africa with keys to the world fauna. Republic of South Africa, Department of Agricultural Technical Services, Entomology Memoir No. 50: 135 pp.
• Meyer and Ueckermann 1997Meyer and Ueckermann 1997:
  Meyer MKPS and Ueckermann EA. 1997. A review of some species of the families Allochaetophoridae, Linotetranidae and Tuckerellidae (Acari: Tetranychoidea). International Journal of Acarology 23: 67-92.
• Ochoa et al. 1994Ochoa et al. 1994:
  Ochoa R, Aguilar H, and Vargas C. 1994. Phytophagous mites of Central America: An illustrated guide. CATIE, Turrialba, Costa Rica.