Biology:Linopodes

Linopodes is a cosmopolitan genus of mites in the family Cocceupodidae. These are large mites with oval bodies, usually reddish, yellowish or brownish, and with an extremely long (up to six times longer than the idiosoma) and flimsy first pair of legs.

Green colored Linopodes mites have been found a bit less frequently in North America.

Habitat

Members of Linopodes are usually found in habitats such as forests, fields, meadows and the banks of ponds, occupying leaf litter, bark, and hiding places under stone. While common, they are not often observed; solitary habits and low densities contribute to this.

There are many different colored species found in North America. It is unknown the full diversity of North American Linopodes due to the fact that they do not preserve well because of their small size.

Species

Species belonging to the genus Linopodes:

• Linopodes antennaepes Banks, 1894 – Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Iran, Italy, USA
• Linopodes barnufi Abou-Awad, Badawi, El-Sawaf & Abdel-Khalek, 2006 – Egypt
• Linopodes cameronensis Shiba, 1976 – Iran, Malaysia
• Linopodes eupodoides R. Canestrini, 1886 – Italy, Switzerland
• Linopodes iwatensis Morikawa, 1963 – Japan
• Linopodes kochi Thor, 1941 – Germany
• Linopodes motatorius (Linnaeus, 1758) – Europe
• Linopodes motatorius africanus Meyer & Ryke, 1960 – South Africa
• Linopodes obsoletus C.L. Koch, 1838 – Germany
• Linopodes pubescens Morikawa, 1963 – Japan
• Linopodes ravus C.L. Koch, 1836 – Germany

Gallery

A small brown Linopodes mite found in Renton, WA

a small yellow Linopodes mite found in Renton, WA

A brownish yellow Linopodes mite found on the Cedar River Trail, a local biking and walking trail in Renton, WA

A green Linopodes mite found on the Bellevue Collage Campus, in Bellevue, Washington

Further reading

• Encyclopedia of Entomology. Springer. 2008. ISBN 978-1-4020-6242-1. 
• Comstock, John Henry (1912). The spider book: A manual for the study of the spiders and their near relatives, the scorpions, pseudoscorpions, whip-scorpions, harvestmen, and other members of the class arachnida, found in America North of Mexico, with analytical keys for their clas.... ISBN 978-1-295-19581-7. 
• Halliday, R.B.; O'connor, O'B.M.; Baker, A.S. (2000). "Global diversity of mites". Nature and Human Society—the Quest for a Sustainable World (National Academy Press): 192–203. doi:10.17226/6142. ISBN 978-0-309-06555-9. 
• Jackman, John A. (2002). A Field Guide to Spiders and Scorpions of Texas. Gulf Publishing. ISBN 978-0-87719-264-0. 
• A Manual of Acarology (3rd ed.). Texas Tech University Press. 2009. ISBN 978-0-89672-620-8. 
• Skoracki, M.; Zabludovskaya, S.; Bochkov, A.V. (2012). "A review of Prostigmata (Acariformes: Trombidiformes) permanently associated with birds". Acarina 20 (2): 67–107. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235754331. 
• Zhang, Z.Q.; Fan, Q.H.; Pesic, V.; Smit, H. et al. (2011). "Animal biodiversity: an outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness, order trombidiformes reuter, 1909". Zootaxa 3148: 129–138. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3148.1.24. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257872652. 

External links

Wikidata ☰ Q20673487 entry