Pneumocoptidae, Baker, Camin, Cunliffe, Woolley et Yunker, 1958

Bochkov, Andre V., Zabludovskaya, Svetlana & Oconnor, Barry M., 2008, Phylogeny and systematics of the endoparasitic astigmatid mites (Acari: Sarcoptiformes) of mammals: families Gastronyssidae, Lemurnyssidae, and Pneumocoptidae, Zootaxa 1951 (1), pp. 1-152 : 7

Family Pneumocoptidae

The first species that probably belongs to the Pneumocoptidae was described as Cytoleichus banksi Wellman et Wherry, 1910 from the lungs of the ground squirrel, Spermophilus beecheyi (Richardson) ( Rodentia : Sciuridae ) in the USA. The species was placed in the Cytoleichidae (now Cytoditidae ), a family including respiratory endoparasites of birds ( Wellman & Wherry 1910). The original description and figures of this species are quite generalized, and no type specimens are available. Lee and Dutson (1971) reported new collections of this species from the type host and transferred the species to the genus Pneumocoptes . Unfortunately, no voucher specimens were designated. Therefore, we consider C. banksi to be a species inquirendae. Weidman (1917) described Cytoleichus penrosei from the lungs of Cynomys ludovicianus (Ord) (Sciuridae) . Baker (1951) established a new genus Pneumocoptes Baker, 1951 with C. penrosei as type, and described a new species, P. jellisoni Baker, 1951 . This author placed the genus Pneumocoptes in the family Epidermoptidae , which at that time included a number of parasitic Astigmata with unclear systematic position. Later, in their key to mite families, Baker et al. (1958) created a separate family Pneumocoptidae for the genus Pneumocoptes . Since that time, one more species, P. tiollaisi Doby, 1963 , has been described from the lungs of Myodes glareolus (Schreber) ( Rodentia : Cricetidae ) from Europe ( Doby 1963). Loos-Frank and Abel (1983) later recorded this species in Germany. Initially, they mentioned this mite as Pneumocoptes sp. , however, in a subsequent publication Kouchakji and Loos-Frank (1984) determined it as P. tiollaisi .