PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM Vol. 99 Washington: 1949 No. 3238 A KEVIEW OF THE MITES OF THE FAMILY CHEYLETIDAE IN THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM By Edward W. Baker The family Cheyletidae Leach, 1814, as previously considered in-cluded two groups of mites, those with small, poorly developed, non-grasping palpi {Myobia^ etc.) and those with large, highly developed, grasping palpi {Gheyletus^ etc.). The former are parasitic mites and are adapted to live on such hosts as birds, snakes, and rats, while the latter are primarily free-living predators. Ewing (Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, vol. 40, No. 7, p. 180, 1938) erected the subfamily Myobiinae to include those mites of the genus Myohia and its generic derivatives. In this paper, Myobiinae is raised to family rank and is considered to include the following genera: Amorphdcarus Ewing, Harpyrhynchus Megnin, Myohia Heyden, Ophioptes Sambon, Picobia Haller, Protomyohia Ewing, Psorergates Tyrrel, Radfordia Ewing, and Syringophilus Heller. The family Cheyletidae is now considered to include the following genera : Acaropsis Moquin-Tandon, Chelacaropsis new genus, Chel-etoids Ouclemans, Cheletogenes Oudemans, Cheletomimus Oudemans, Cheletomorpha Oudemans, Cheletonella Womersley, Cheletophanes Oudemans, Cheletophyes Oudemans, Cheletopsis Oudemans, Cheleto-soina Oudemans, Chelonotus Berlese, Cheyletia Haller, Cheyletiella Canestrini, Cheyletus Latreille, Eucheyla Berlese, Eucheyletia new genus, Eutogenes new genus, and Neocheyletiella new genus. The Cheyletidae are prostigmatic mites with short styletlike chelicerae; with a short palpal tarsus located on the posterior part of the palpal tibia rather than on tip and in most cases bearing comblike and sicklelike setae; palpal tibia with a strong claw which 810275—49 1 267
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