HETEROCHTHONIIDAE

van der Hammen, L., 1959, Berlese's Primitive Oribatid Mites, Zoologische Verhandelingen 40, pp. 1-93 : 23

HETEROCHTHONIIDAE Grandjean, 1954

In his first notes on the Enarthronota , Grandjean (1947) classified Heterochthonius among the Cosmochthoniidae ; he pointed out that the genera Cosmochthonius and Heterochthonius show some analogy in habitus, but are thoroughly different in many important characters. In 1954 he created a separate family Heterochthoniidae , characterized among others by the possession of eyes (which is a unique character) and by the lack of genital tracheae (the presence of which is a special character of the Cosmochthoniidae ).