A new oribatid mite species of the genus Nesozetes (Oribatida, Nesozetidae) is described from moss (Sphagnum sp.) on the seepage area below a permanent spring in South Africa. Nesozetes membranus sp. nov. differs from its only congener, Nesozetes rostropterus, described from Fiji, by the presence of a second pair of membranes located in the podosomal region, setiform bothridial setae and striate subcapitular mentum. A revised diagnosis of Nesozetidae, discussion on its taxonomic status, and information on distribution and ecology of Nesozetes species are given.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4358.2.5 | DOI Listing |
Arthropod Struct Dev
December 2024
Department of Biology, University of Graz, Universitaetsplatz 2, 8010, Graz, Austria.
Claw characteristics of oribatid mites are strongly correlated with environmental factors and these characters remain constant throughout development when immatures and adults share the same ecology and lifestyle. In the present study, claw traits of oribatid mite species with constant ecology were compared with those of species showing a clear ecological shift between juvenile and adult stage. The arboreal Sellnickia caudata and the saxicolous Niphocepheus nivalis dwell in the same microhabitat during their life-cycle, whereas immatures of the terrestrial Carabodes areolatus and Mycobates carli, as well as of the aquatic Hydrozetes lemnae, are, in contrast to their adults, endophagous, meaning they feed and burrow within lichen and plant tissue.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Biol Sci
December 2024
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panamá Apartado Postal 0843-03092, República de Panamá.
Climate change is exacerbating a global decline in biodiversity. Numerous observational studies link rising temperatures to declining biological abundance, richness and diversity in terrestrial ecosystems, yet few studies have considered the highly diverse and functionally significant communities of tropical forest soil and leaf litter fauna. Here, we report major declines in the order-level richness and diversity of soil and leaf litter fauna following three years of experimental whole-profile soil warming in a tropical forest.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe oribatid mite genera Platynothrus and Heminothrus currently comprise 20 and 10 species, respectively, and collectively have a cosmopolitan distribution. They have been classified into three to five subgenera, depending on the classification. For Platynothrus, a couple of new species have been described in the last two years, while for Heminothrus, the last formal description of a new species was 26 years ago.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Checklist of Oribatida from Mexico includes all known records to date, resulting in 768 species included in 378 genera from 117 families and 43 superfamilies. Records of nine fossil species from Lower Miocene amber (23 Ma) from Chiapas are included. Records are given for 12 of the biogeographic provinces proposed for the country, covering most of the Mexican states (except Sonora, Sinaloa and Tlaxcala), and therefore Mexico ranges among regions with a high species diversity, like Japan (833), India (789), Italy (721), Russian Far East (599), Canada (580) and Brazil (576).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA new species of the genus Eupterotegaeus (Oribatida, Cepheusidae) is described from the U.S.A.
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