Oribatid Mites and Their Economic Importance

Abstract

REVIEWING some of the literature on Tyrogly-phid mites, Lapage¹ directed attention to their role in pulmonary acariasis of man, in addition to destruction of stored food-products. The Oribatids are allied to these cheese- and flour-mites and to the well-known harvest- and chigger-mites, and have been, until a few years ago, of comparatively little economic significance. Otherwise known as moss-mites and beetle-mites, they have been studied for many years and from all over the world. They are mostly microscopic in size, free-living and terrestrial, although a few are aquatic and crawl on weeds. Their activity is greater in darkness, when they swarm out in search of food, and progression is normally slow. They havda shiny chitinous body-wall, a wing-like extension (the pteromorpha) at the antero-lateral corner of the abdomen on each side, a pair of peculiarly shaped sense-organs (the pseudo-sbigmatic organs), and no eyes.