Parasitiformes

Taxobox
name = Parasitiformes


image_caption = A tick of the species "Ixodes ricinus"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
subphylum = Chelicerata
classis = Arachnida
subclassis = Acarina
superordo = Parasitiformes
subdivision_ranks = Orders and main families
subdivision =
*Ixodida
** Ixodidae (Hard ticks)
** Argasidae (Soft ticks)
** Nuttalliellidae
*Holothyrida
**Allothyridae
**Holothyridae
**Neothyridae
*Mesostigmata
**over 65 families

The Parasitiformes are a superorder of Acari (treated as a suborder in an outdated classification). Many species are parasitic (most famous of which are ticks), but not all; for example, about half of the 10,000 known species in the suborder Mesostigmata are predatory and cryptozoan, living in the soil-litter, rotting wood, dung, carrion, nests or house dust. A few species have switched to grazing on fungi or ingesting spores or pollen.

The phytoseiid mites, which account for about 15% of all described Mesostigmata are used with great success for biological control.

There are over 12,000 described species of Parasitiformes, and the total estimate is between 100,000 and 200,000 species.

References

*David Walter, Heather Proctor (1999) "Mites: Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour", CABI Publishing.