Chronovora

When species of Order Chronovora were first discovered in 2008, they were initially placed among the Occlupanida in the Archignathidae family, due to  similarities in the morphology of the oral groove. Thanks to the work of keen-eyed field researchers across the globe, a vast diversity of these micro- microsyntherans have been uncovered, and their uniqueness has been given more scrutiny. Most chronovorans are known to spend at least part of their life cycle wedged between parts of wrist-watches, often attached to metal or plastic cylinders. Their minute lives and habits mark them as distinct even from the Pseudocclupanida, and therefore have been placed in their own taxonomic class, the Lepistomella (“little-mouth scale”). 

Chronovora are the mites and springtails of the occlupanid world; they are clearly closely related to true occlupanids, either as a greatly-specialized off-branch, or the diminutive remains of a basal link to occlupanid’s deep past.  Their fine features make granular identification a challenge for the scholar, and there is also recorded variation in species. It is thought that due to their small size and temporal-based existence, they may evolve more rapidly than occlupanids.