We examined soil microarthropod populations inhabiting a clay-silt soil of a tabosa grass (Hilaria mutica) swale in southern New Mexico.... Overall densities of microarthropod groups were correlated with soil moisture but many individual taxa were not. The most numerous and frequently occurring taxa [nanorchestid, tydeid and bdellid mites (Progtigmata); Aphelacarus sp. and Cosmochthonius sp. (Cryptostigmata)] are common in all Chihuahuan desert habitats examined to date and are common in other North American desert areas.