Age of Acarina

[Bill Shear]

The new Mesozoic tick may well extend the age of ticks, but not of
the Order Acarina (ticks and mites).  Mite fossils are known from the
Rhynie Chert (early Devonian) and Gilboa (Middle Devonian).  Fecal
pellets attributed to mites have been found in the middle Silurian.
--

Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<wshear at email.hsc.edu>
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"How watchful we must be to keep the crystal well that we were made,
clear!--that it not be made turbid by our contact with the world, so
that it will not reflect objects.  What other liberty is there worth
having, if we have not freedom and peace in our minds--if our inmost
and most private man is but a sour and turbid pool?"

--Henry David Thoreau, Journals, October 26, 1853.