Sand-mites comprise three families, Leeuwenhoekiidae, Trombiculidae and Walchiidae, that together constitute the superfamily Trombiculoidea sensu Wen, which is distinct from the more derived superfamily Trombidioidea. The Walchiidae contains two subfamilies: Walchiinae sensu Wen and Gahrliepiinae sensu Wen. The Gahrliepiinae may be further separated into two tribes: Gahrliepiini sensu Wen and Intermedialiini. Members of the tribe Gahrliepiini are medium to large sized, IP=500–1120. The scutum is broad tongue-shaped, in the extreme cases, covering the entire dorsum. fSc=2AL 2PL 4-28PPL. Its surface bears dense punctae, maculae or versatile scleros. The sensillae are expanded. SIF= 4B/5B/6B-N/B-3/2-2110.0000. NDV=50–240. Leg segments 7.6.6 show no variation, and are usually stumpy except in large sized genera. fcx=1.1.1 usually. The absence of paired intermedial setae (IM) in the Gahrliepiini separates this tribe from the Intermedialiini. Currently, the Gahrliepiini contains 91 named species in 8 genera and 4 subgenera, including Parvisetia g. n. and Squamulata sg. n. Almost all Oriental and Palaearctic gahrliepiine sand-mites are characterized by fT=4B, as in the genus Gateria, which may be distinguished on the basis from the Ethiopian genera Gahrliepia of 5B and Ozosetiella of 6B. Hosts of the Gahrliepiini are chiefly small ground-dwelling rodents and insectivores living in primary forests, rarely bats and birds, and never poikilotherms. Gahrliepiine sand-mites are essentially confined to the Old World, the largest number of species having been recorded from Southeast Asia. As yet, this tribe has not been reported from the Australian or Neotropical Zoogeographic Regions. An important new taxonomic index, mean dimension of coxa III, or index coxalis (IC) = (length width)/2 is introduced to differentiate genera, subgenera and species with extraordinary large coxa III. A key to genera and subgenera of the tribe Gahrliepiini is given.