| Laelapidae Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Mesostigmata |
| Family: | Laelapidae Berlese, 1892 |
The Laelapidae are a family of mites in the order Mesostigmata.[1][2] The family is also referred to in the literature as Laelaptidae, which may be the correct spelling.
Laelapidae have a shield covering all or most of the dorsal surface (holodorsal shield). Ventrally, there is a sternal shield with 3 pairs of setae, a tongue- or flask-shaped genital shield (greatly expanded in Ololaelaps) with usually at least 1 pair of setae, and a small anal shield with 3 circumanal setae. The peritremes are typically long and the peritrematal shields often narrow.[3]
Laelapidae is the most ecologically diverse group of Mesostigmata.[4] As of 2012, there were ten laelapid genera known to be free-living predators in soil, thirty-five that are ectoparasites on mammals (e.g. rodents[5]) and forty-three have species associated with arthropods.[4] Laelapidae are the only family in superfamily Dermanyssoidea to include free-living predators.[3]
Among the arthropod-associated laelapids are taxa associated with bees. Raymentia are associated with Lasioglossum sweat bees and may be pollen-feeders,[6] Neohypoaspis are predators on astigmatid mites in stingless bee nests, Pneumolaelaps feed on pollen and nectar in bumblebee nests, Melittiphis alvearius feeds on pollen in European honeybee nests and Tropilaelaps are obligatory parasites of honeybees.[4]
Other arthropod-associated laelapids include species of Hypoaspis sensu lato associated with burrowing cockroaches[7] and Julolaelaps moseri which was collected from a millipede of family Spirostreptidae.[8]
Several species of Laelapidae are used commercially as biological control agents of pests, and others are being studied for the same purpose.[9] Examples include Gaeolaelaps aculeifer and Stratiolaelaps scimitus, used to control various pests in soil (thrips pupae, fly maggots, bulb mites), and pests of mushrooms (fungus gnats) and poultry (poultry red mite).[10]
