Most fossil acarids are no older than the Tertiary (up to 65 mya).
Earlier fossils are too few to enable mite phylogeny to be reconstructed from palaeontological evidence, but in 2002 an oribatid mite (Brachypylina) from the Early Ordovician (c. 480 mya) was found in Oland, Sweden.
The first find of Parasitiformes from the Mesozoic was of an argasid tick larva in Cretaceous amber (90–94 mya) from New Jersey.
Other fossils including the first opilioacariform mite are preserved in Baltic amber of Eocene age (44 mya).
Most fossil acarids are no older than the Tertiary (up to 65 mya). Earlier fossils are too few to enable mite phylogeny to be reconstructed from palaeontological evidence, but in 2002 an oribatid mite (Brachypylina) from the Early Ordovician (c. 480 mya) was found in Oland, Sweden. The first find of Parasitiformes from the Mesozoic was of an argasid tick larva in Cretaceous amber (90–94 mya) from New Jersey. Other fossils including the first opilioacariform mite are preserved in Baltic amber of Eocene age (44 mya).
Mite