Tetranychidae, Donnadieu, 1876

SEEMAN, OWEN D. & BEARD, JENNIFER J., 2011, Identification of exotic pest and Australian native and naturalised species of Tetranychus (Acari: Tetranychidae), Zootaxa 2961 (1), pp. 1-72 : 12

Distinguishing the Tetranychidae from other mites

The Tetranychidae belongs to the superfamily Tetranychoidea , a group distinguished by the morphology of the mouthparts. The movable digit of the chelicerae has been highly modified to form an elongate stylet for piercing plant tissue ( Reck 1952; Baker & Pritchard 1953; Krantz 1978; Walter et al. 2009). These recurved J-shaped chelicerae distinguish tetranychoids from all other mites. Their bases also form a deeply retractable stylophore, present only in the Tetranychoidea and some Raphignathoidea ( Walter et al. 2009). The Tetranychidae can be distinguished from other tetranychoid families by the combination of a palp thumb-claw structure, lateral prodorsal eyes and the absence of long filamentous setae on the posterior of the mite ( Donnadieu 1876; Baker & Pritchard 1953; Pritchard & Baker 1955).