Table of Contents

1: What Good are Mites? 2: The Origin of Mites 3: Systematic and Morphological Survey 4: Life Cycles, Development and Size 5: Sex and Celibacy 6: Mites in Detritus and Soil Systems 7: Mites in Water 8: Mites on Plants 9: Animals as Habitats 10: Mites and Biological Diversity 11: Mites as Models of Ecological and Evolutionary Theories

About the Author

CABI

Reviews

"This book surveys life cycles, feeding behavior, reproductive biology, and host associations of mites. Topics include: evolution of mites and other arachnids, mites in soil and water, mites on plants and animals, sperm transfer and reproduction, and mites as models of ecological and evolutionary theories."--Entomological News"Before I read this book mites were just small arthropods that were responsible for clogging up berlese samples and that itchy feeling after hiking. Never again. I now know that the Acari exhibit a multitude of feeding and sexual behaviors, and comprise somewhere between 0.5 and 1 million species. The authors have produced a very digestible entry into the extensive and scattered literature on mite ecology and behavior, and their enthusiasm for the subject leaps from the page. ... The authors are very well known for their beautiful scanning electron micrographs of mites that render the external anatomy of mites in exquisite detail, and the illustrations throughout this work are excellent. The goal of this book is to attract new students to acarology by showing them that mites are interesting and exciting; the authors hope to infect others with their 'acarophilia.' I think that they will succeed ..."--The Quarterly Review of Biology