Damaeidae

Damaeidae Berlese (1896) is a family of mites.^[1] Alternative names for the family include Belbidae Willmann (1931), and Belbodamaeidae Bulanova-Zachvatkina (1967) or Hungarobelbidae (1996).^[2] They had been previously considered to be distinct families.^[1][3][4]

Damaeidae Temporal range: Palaeogene–present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Belba corynopus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Oribatida
Superfamily:	Damaeoidea
Family:	Damaeidae Berlese (1896)

Species of the family are extant in Eurasia and Northern America.^[5] Related species exist in New Zealand and South America.^[4]

Behaviour

Most species of the family live in plant litter, mosses, decaying woods and organic soil layers. The family is composed of fungivores. They have an important role in regulation of the density of fungi that is harmful for plants.^[5]

List of genera

The following genera are part of this family:^[6][7][8][9]

• Acanthobelba
• Allobelba
• Belba
• Belbodamaeus
• Damaeus
• Dameobelba
• Epidamaeus
• Hungarobelba
• Hypodamaeus
• Kunstidamaeus
• Metabelba
• Metabelbella
• Mirobelba
• Neobelba
• Nortonbelba
• Parabelbella
• Paradamaeus
• Parametabelba
• Porobelba
• Subbelba
• Spatiodamaeus
• Tectodamaeus^{[citation needed]}
• Weigmannia^{[citation needed]}