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House dust mite's formal classification. A quick reference

The house dust mite belongs to the scientific world known as Arthropoda. Here is a shortened version of how to find its place in this vast animal Kingdom.

The phylum (fi/lum) Arthropoda is made up from 3 sub-sections called subphyla. They are Uniramia, Crustacea and Chelicerata. House dust mites are arthropods belonging to Chelicerata, in the class Arachnida, order Acari. Within Acari they belong to the suborder Astigmata. This is their family tree, so to speak. It's a bit easier to follow stepwise.

Within Arthropoda are Chelicerata, then they go down to Arachnida, then Acari, then Astigmata, and finally, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, the house dust mite

In addition to mites the Chelicerata also includes horseshoe crabs, sea spiders, spiders, scorpions and harvestman spiders (daddy longlegs).

It is important to recognise the difference between the subphylum Uniramia and subphylum Arachnida. Insects, centipedes and millipedes belong to the Uniramia, while mites and spiders belong to Arachnida. Mites are not closely related to insects, and because of their differences many insecticides designed to control insects will not always be successful on mites.

Note: 'All ticks are mites but not all mites are ticks'

References

'The biology of dust mites and the remediation of mite allergens in allergic disease', Larry G Arlian, Thomas A E Platts-Mills, 2001, J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. Vol. 107, Number 3, S406-413

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House dust mite's formal classification. A quick reference

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