#oribatida

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Order: Oribatida

Common Name: Oribatid mites, “moss mites”, “beetle mites”

Suborders: 6 - Brachypylina, Enarthronota, Desmonomata, Mixonomata, Palaeosomata, Poronota

(there are 200 families so…)

Anatomy: mineralized exoskeleton as adults; some have a pair of pteromorphae, wing-like flaps that overhang the legs on either side that can be shut like a clam shell for defense, others simply tuck their legs under their protective armor

Diet: living and dead plant and fungal material, lichens, carrion; some are predatory on smaller arthropods

Habitat: moist forest floors worldwide; some specialized species live on bare, lichen covered rocks; some live on submersed aquatic plants

Evolved in: Middle Devonian

(source)

Propaganda under the cut:

a herd of oribatid mites thunders across the green plain of a watermelon rind