The first reports of water mites from the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone were published by Koenike (1895, 1912), based upon collections made by J.B. Tyrrell during the original C.P.R. surveys. Ruth Marshall (1929) identified several species among specimens from Lake Simcoe sent to her by D.S. Rawson. Extensive knowledge of the water mite fauna of the Ecozone began to develop in the early 1960's as a result of field work conducted by staff of the Royal Ontario Museum. The following treatment is based largely on collections made during the past 30 years by the senior author, now housed in the Canadian National Collection (CNC) of Acari in Ottawa. Information on some species has previously been published, and additional data for these and many more species are available in a large relational database associated with the CNC. The faunas associated with wetland and spring habitats were treated by Smith (1987 and 1991b, respectively).

Over 800 species representing 97 genera and 32 families of water mites occur in Canada, and over 430 species in 72 genera and 31 families have been collected in the Mixedwood Plains. About 125 species have yet to be identified with certainty, and many of them are undescribed and unnamed taxa. Cook (1991) reported 225 species representing 56 genera and 24 families from Michigan, and predicted, apparently conservatively, that at least another 100-125 species would be identified from the State. A taxonomic census of the families of water mites for North America, Canada, and the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone is summarized in Table 4, using estimates based upon published reports supplemented by at least preliminary study of taxa represented in major North American collections, especially the Canadian National Collection. Numbers of species in large families with numerous unidentified species are approximate. Both named and unnamed species of the representative superfamily Arrenuroidea from the Ecozone are considered in more detail in Table 5. A check list of named species known from the Mixedwood Plains is presented in Table 6.

TABLE 4: REPRESENTATION OF NORTH AMERICAN WATER MITE FAMILIES

IN MIXEDWOOD PLAINS ECOZONE

FAMILIES OF WATERMITES	# GENERA IN NORTH AMERICA - CANADA - MWP	# SPECIES IN NORTH AMERICA - CANADA - MWP	# UNIDENTIFIED SPECIES IN MWP
Superfamily - Hydrovolzioidea
Hydrovolziidae	1 - 1 - 1	6 - 2 - 1	0
Superfamily - Eylaoidea
Piersigiidae	1 - 1 - 1	3 - 2 - 1	0
Limnocharidae	3 - 3 - 3	6 - 4 - 4	0
Eylaidae	1 - 1 - 1	50 - 40 - 25	19
Superfamily - Hydrachnoidea
Hydrachnidae	1 - 1 - 1	50 - 40 - 25	9
Superfamily - Hydryphantoidea
Hydryphantidae	20 - 18 - 13	65 - 50 - 25	4
Hydrodromidae	1 - 1 - 1	2 - 1 - 1	0
Rhynchohydracaridae	1 - 1 - 1	2 - 1 - 1	0
Thermacaridae	1 - 0 - 0	3 - 0 - 0	0
Superfamily - Lebertioidea
Sperchontidae	2 - 2 - 2	75 - 50 - 20	11
Teutoniidae	1 - 1 - 1	3 - 3 - 1	0
Rutripalpidae	1 - 1 - 0	1 - 1 - 0	0
Anisitsiellidae	6 - 4 - 1	20 - 10 - 3	0
Lebertiidae	3 - 2 - 1	75 - 50 - 20	14
Oxidae	2 - 2 - 2	20 - 12 - 10	3
Torrenticolidae	4 - 2 - 2	75 - 50 - 15	11
Superfamily - Hygrobatoidea
Limnesiidae	9 - 3 - 2	50 - 25 - 15	3
Omartacaridae	1 - 0 - 0	3 - 0 - 0	0
Hygrobatidae	5 - 4 - 2	60 - 40 - 15	8
Feltriidae	1 - 1 - 1	50 - 35 - 15	9
Unionicolidae	3 - 3 - 3	70 - 40 - 30	4
Pionidae	12 - 12 - 11	100 - 75 - 55	3
Aturidae	18 - 11 - 7	125 - 75 - 25	13
Superfamily - Arrenuroidea
Momoniidae	3 - 3 - 2	20 - 7 - 2	0
Nudomideopsidae	3 - 2 - 1	5 - 2 - 1	0
Mideidae	1 - 1 - 1	5 - 5 - 1	0
Mideopsidae	1 - 1 - 1	35 - 25 - 16	4
Chappuisididae	4 - 4 - 1	15 - 5 - 1	0
Athienemanniidae	3 - 3 - 2	10 - 6 - 2	0
Acalyptonotidae	2 - 2 - 1	4 - 4 - 1	0
Neoacaridae	2 - 2 - 2	15 - 10 - 7	3
Laversiidae	1 - 1 - 1	1 - 1 - 1	0
Arenohydracaridae	1 - 0 - 0	2 - 0 - 0	0
Bogatiidae	1 - 0 - 0	1 - 0 - 0	0
Krendowskiidae	2 - 2 - 2	10 - 4 - 4	1
Arrenuridae	1 - 1 - 1	200 - 150 - 90	4
TOTALS	123 - 97 - 72	1222 - 823 - 433	125

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