tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5460788270738656369.post3279461682403957540..comments2023-12-24T07:02:43.274+08:00Comments on Catalogue of Organisms: The Mites of SpringsChristopher Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11075565866351612441noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5460788270738656369.post-414888347661259042013-05-30T18:01:59.824+08:002013-05-30T18:01:59.824+08:00Well, there's no such thing as a definition of...Well, there's no such thing as a definition of a family vs a genus anyway, and blah blah blah. But yeah, water mite and oribatid workers do seem to like their tightly defined families.Christopher Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11075565866351612441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5460788270738656369.post-39221354983212978992013-05-30T17:54:43.029+08:002013-05-30T17:54:43.029+08:00Water mites can be a great deal of fun to collect:...Water mites can be a great deal of fun to collect: many of the species are abundant in various freshwater habitats and there seems to be no end to the scarcer species.<br /><br />A personal favorite factoid is that a number of species are obligate parasites of freshwater clams: if you are concerned that clams are going extinct, you get a twofer with the mites.<br /><br />One of the big problems with the Parasitengona is associating the adults with the larvae. Often they have been collected and named separately.<br /><br />Water mites may suffer from taxonomic inflation: what might be a genus in another group could be a superfamily in water mites. At least that was my impression 35 years ago: I don't know if it's really justified. There were similar issues with Oribatid mites.Mike Hubenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01371469964446567690noreply@blogger.com