ABSTRACT
Mites are an important subclass within the class Arachnida. Two orders within the Acari, the Mesostigmata and the Crypto stigmata, have been recorded from archaeological sites in Britain to date, being preserved particularly in waterlogged or semi-waterlogged deposits. Most Mesostigmata are free-living in soil and decaying organic materials but many show adaptations as parasites of both vertebrates and invertebrates. Cryptostigmatid mites are free-living, feeding on a wide variety of materials including fungi and algae. In economic deposits, such as farm debris or house refuse, the Mesostigmata tend to outnumber the Crypto stigmata. In deposits derived from soil, or from vegetation in close contact with the soil, the Crypto stigmata form over 95" of the mite fauna. The ecology of the Crypto stigmata has been much studied and it is considered that species are limited in their distribution by their degree of tolerance to a range of environmental factors, such as pH and soil moisture content.
