PBDB Taxon

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Protacaridae

Arachnida - Acariformes - Protacaridae

Taxonomy

Protacaridae was named by Klimov and Kolesnikov (2025). Its type is Protacarus.

It was assigned to Endeostigmata by Klimov and Kolesnikov (2025).

Subtaxa

Protacarus (syn. Paraprotacarus, Palaeotydeus, Protospeleorchestes) (type genus), Pseudoprotacarus, Pseudoprotacarus scoticus

Synonyms

Pseudoprotacarus was named by Dubinin (1962).

It was considered a nomen dubium by Klimov et al. (2025).

It was assigned to Alicorhagiidae by Dunlop et al. (2013).
Pseudoprotacarus scoticus was named by Dubinin (1962). It is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Rhynie cherts (Cran collection), which is in a Pragian pond chert in the Dryden Flags Formation of the United Kingdom.

It was considered a nomen dubium by Klimov et al. (2025).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1962	Pseudoprotacarus Dubinin p. 464
1962	Pseudoprotacarus scoticus Dubinin p. 464 fig. 1343
2013	Pseudoprotacarus Dunlop et al. p. 86
2025	Protacaridae Klimov and Kolesnikov p. 2

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Protostomia
—	Ecdysozoa	Aguinaldo et al. 1997
—	Panarthropoda
phylum	Arthropoda	Latreille 1829
—	Deuteropoda
subphylum	Chelicerata	Heymons 1901
—	Euchelicerata	Weygoldt and Paulus 1979
—	Prosomapoda

Rank	Name	Author
—	Planaterga
—	Dekatriata
—	Sclerophorata	Kamenz et al. 2011
class	Arachnida	Lamarck 1801
—	Poecilophysidea	Pepato et al. 2010
order	Acariformes	(Zakhvatkin 1952)
suborder	Sarcoptiformes	Reuter 1909
infraorder	Endeostigmata
family	Protacaridae
family	Protacaridae

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

Fm. †Protacaridae Klimov and Kolesnikov 2025

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G. †Protacarus Hirst 1923

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†Protacarus crani Hirst 1923

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Invalid names: Palaeotydeus devonicus Dubinin 1962 [synonym], Paraprotacarus hirsti Dubinin 1962 [synonym], Protospeleorchestes pseudoprotacarus Dubinin 1962 [synonym]

Invalid names: Palaeotydeus Dubinin 1962 [synonym], Paraprotacarus Dubinin 1962 [synonym], Protospeleorchestes Dubinin 1962 [synonym]

Invalid names: Pseudoprotacarus Dubinin 1962 [nomen dubium], Pseudoprotacarus scoticus Dubinin 1962 [nomen dubium]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

chitinc

Grouping:

solitaryc

Environment:

terrestrialc

Locomotion:

actively mobilec

Created:

2017-04-17 09:55:58

Modified:

2017-04-17 09:55:58

Source: c = class

Reference: Bush and Bambach 2015

Age range: Pragian or 413.02000 to 410.62000 Ma

Collections (2 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Pragian	413.02 - 410.62	United Kingdom (Scotland)	Protacarus crani (172778) Protacarus crani, Protospeleorchestes pseudoprotacarus, Palaeotydeus devonicus, Paraprotacarus hirsti (172777)