Only a limited number of tarsonemid genera (Steneotarsonemus, Polyphagotarsonemus, Phytonemus, Floridotarsonemus and Tarsonemus) are known to feed on higher plants while most species in this family feed on the thin-walled mycelia of fungi or possibly algal bodies.

[1] Even among the plant-feeding tarsonemid mites, most are confined to areas of new growth where cell walls are thin and therefore easily pierced.

For example, three tribes of Acarapinae are insect parasites: Acarapini are parasites of Apis bees (the tribe includes notable pest Acarapis woodi), Coreitarsonemini live in odoriferous glands of leaf-footed bugs (Coreidae) and Podotarsonemini attach to wings of tetrigid grasshoppers.

Chemical trials demonstrated that endosulfan and dicofol consistently reduced densities of P. latus and S. pallidus,[4] and planting stock can be effectively decontaminated through fumigation with methyl bromide or 1,2-dibromoethane.

[5] Predatory phytoseiid mites, in the genus Neoseiulus, can also successfully control P. latus and S. pallidus under greenhouse and field conditions.