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Publications (315)
Paedonothridae Norton, Ermilov & Bayartogtokh fam. nov. is proposed as a new family of the oribatid mite hyporder Nothrina. It is monotypic, based on Paedonothrus reductus Norton, Ermilov & Bayartogtokh gen. et sp. nov., which was sampled from floating vegetation in a shallow lagoon in Kavaratti Atoll of the tropical Lakshadweep Islands, Arabian Se...
Paedonothridae Norton, Ermilov & Bayartogtokh fam. nov. is proposed as a new family of the oribatid mite hyporder Nothrina. It is monotypic, based on Paedonothrus reductus Norton, Ermilov & Bayartogtokh gen. et sp. nov., which was sampled from floating vegetation in a shallow lagoon in Kavaratti Atoll of the tropical Lakshadweep Islands, Arabian Se...
The oribatid mite family Trhypochthoniidae exhibit the greatest collective ecological valence among the families of the middle-derivative infraorder Nothrina. Our objectives were: to examine poorly-known aspects of their morphology, with a focus on Allonothrus and a redescription of adult A. tuxtlasensis; to compare ontogenetic development of leg s...
In its traditional, paraphyletic context (sans Astigmata), oribatid mites comprise more than 11,000 known species (Subías 2022). They are largely fungivores and decomposers in organic horizons of soil and have a plesiotypic ontogeny that includes four active, free-living juvenile instars. In a taxonomically organized 2014 catalogue, we summarized l...
In surveying material of the genus Eulohmannia Berlese 1910, representatives of two new species were discov-
ered. Eulohmannia aborigensis sp. n., described based on all instars, is known only from alpine environments
of the Kolyma Highlands in Magadan Oblast, Russia. It is the largest species of the genus known (length often
well over 800 μm) and...
The distinctive oribatid mite family Eulohmanniidae has been known almost exclusively from the type species of Eulohmannia, E. ribagai (Berlese, 1910), which is widely distributed in the northern Hemisphere where it inhabits fine humus, typically beneath forest litter and moss. We describe the morphological ontogeny of E. ribagai based primarily on...
Major hypotheses on sex evolution predict that resource abundance and heterogeneity should either select for or against sexual reproduction. However, seldom have these predictions been explicitly tested in the field. Here, we investigated this question using soil oribatid mites, a diverse and abundant group of soil arthropods whose local communitie...
The oribatid mite genus Kunstidamaeus (Damaeidae) is known from 17 species distributed in Europe and Asia. Based on adult and juvenile specimens, we propose K. arthurjacoti sp. nov. as the first Nearctic species. It occurs in the eastern and midwestern USA, as well as Ontario, Canada, in diverse habitats including prairie sod, fens, and leaf litter...
Studies on inter-annual dynamics of populations from temperate regions have shown
that density dependence and climate effects are relatively common, albeit weak.
Yet, for short-lived organisms, intra-annual variation may be at least as important.
Furthermore, tropical species commonly experience temperatures close to their upper
thermal limit and t...
Three processes can explain contemporary community assembly: natural selection, ecological drift and dispersal. However, quantifying their effects has been complicated by confusion between different processes and neglect of expected interactions among them. One possible solution is to simultaneously model the expected effects of each process within...
Geographic isolation plays a major role in biological diversification. Yet, adaptive divergence also can occur with ongoing gene flow, but the minimal spatial scale required for this is unclear. Here, we hypothesized that local gradients in soil clay and water contents respectively select for anti-adherent and hypoxia-tolerant phenotypes in soil in...
Intensive land use has been shown to alter the composition and functioning of soil communities. Due to their low dispersal ability, oribatid mites are particularly vulnerable to land-use intensification and species which are not adjusted to management-related disturbances become less abundant. We investigated how different land-use parameters in fo...
The oribatid mite genus Caleremaeus (Caleremaeidae) is widely distributed in the northern hemisphere but has been represented by only three extant and one fossil species. We redescribe the North American C. retractus (Banks, 1947) based on adults and nymphs; it is distinguishable from the European type species, C. monilipes (Michael, 1882) by its s...
Studies on inter‐annual dynamics of populations from temperate regions have shown that density dependence and climate effects are relatively common, albeit weak. Yet, for short‐lived organisms, intra‐annual variation may be at least as important. Furthermore, tropical species commonly experience temperatures close to their upper thermal limit and t...
Anderemaeus is a genus of Gondwanan soil-dwelling oribatid mites with seven of the eight previously known species being South American. We propose two new species from Chile-A. sidorchukae sp. nov. and A. dentatus sp. nov.-and a third from Ecuador, A. mataderoensis sp. nov. Juveniles of the former two species are described, comprising the first suc...
Size scaling phenomena occur on different levels, from organisms to ecosystems. In predictive ecology, empirical data on body size relation have been used for decades to explain large-scale temporal and spatial patterns. More recently, community ecologists have started to use abundance-weighted mean body sizes as a tool to predict changes in specie...
INTRODUÇÃO A evolução do sexo é um problema central da biologia. Genótipos assexuados podem proliferar até duas vezes mais rápido que genótipos sexuados por não dependerem de cruzamento. Então, por que o sexo é tão comum na natureza? Um problema relacionado é o da "partenogênese geográfica": em espécies proximamente relacionadas, aquelas assexuadas...
Background
Oribatid mites are among the primordial decomposer faunal elements and potential prey organisms in soil. Among their myriad morphological defenses are strong sclerotization and mineralization, cuticular tecta, and the “ptychoid” body-form, which allows to attain an encapsulated, seed-like appearance. Most oribatid mites possess a pair of...
Many taxa of mites inhabit long-lived freshwater environments, but the few known to
live in small, ephemeral rock pools (lithotelmata) are brachypyline Oribatida. One of
these is in the South African genus Aquanothrus (Ameronothridae). We describe adults
and juveniles of two new rock-pool species from the USA and propose the sister-genus
Paraquanot...
In most ectotherms, adult body size decreases with warming, the so-called 'temperature-size rule' (TSR). However, the extent to which the strength of the TSR varies naturally within species is little known, and the significance of this phenomenon for tropical biota has been largely neglected. Here, we show that the adult body mass of the soil mite...
Neopilizetes is a genus of the oribatid mite family Galumnidae that was first characterized by having well-developed setae, a dorsosejugal suture, and raised striae on the prodorsum and notogaster. It was proposed to accommodate Pilizetes neotropicus Balogh & Mahunka 1978 from Brazil—the only supposed Pilizetes species known outside the Ethiopian R...
Diplo-diploid parthenogenesis (thelytoky) is a widespread phenomenon in the mite taxon Sarcoptiformes, and is unusually frequent in the suborder Oribatida, where it characterizes almost 10% of extant species, including whole genera and families. Based on molecular and cytological data, terminal fusion automixis with an inverted meiotic sequence bas...
Species abundance is a fundamental ecological descriptor. However, spatial and temporal dimensions of abundance are often studied separately. Thus, the primacy of spatial vs. temporal factors in determining abundance, as well as the extent to which spatial patterns change over time, remains uncertain. Soil organisms are well-suited to address these...
Adelphacarus reticulatus Lotfollahi sp. nov., the second known species of the oribatid mite genus Adelphacarus (Adelphacaridae), is proposed based on specimens collected from 40- to 75-cm depth in sandy clay loam soil of a natural grassland in the Marand region, East Azerbaijan province of Iran. It is distinct from the type species, A. sellnicki Gr...
Based on the study of type material, other historical specimens, and new collections, the adult of the thelytokous oribatid mite Oribata curva Ewing, 1907 (Galumnidae) is redescribed and the name is recombined to Trichogalumna curva (Ewing, 1907) comb. nov. A confusing history of synonymies and misidentifications is traced in detail, and their effe...
A checklist of the oribatid mite species reported in Brazil is presented, including all published records up to 2015. A total of 576 described species in 206 genera and 83 families is presented. Information includes the names by which each species was reported in the Brazilian literature, its general known distribution and by Brazilian States, refe...
Significance
Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is highly volatile and among the most toxic substances known, being lethal to humans at a dosage of 1–2 mg/kg body weight. HCN blocks the respiratory chain and prevents aerobic organisms from using oxygen. In nature, HCN is produced by numerous plants that store it mainly as glycosides. Among animals, cyanogenesi...
The second volume in this landmark series includes an introductory chapter followed by 15 taxonomically specific chapters with identification keys to Nearctic freshwater invertebrates (protozoa through arthropods). Other than the second chapter's treatment of the diverse, multi-phyla array of protozoa (ciliates, flagellates, and amoebas), each of t...
The oribatid mite family Arborichthoniidae (infraorder Enarthronota) has been represented by a single species, Arborichthonius styosetosus Norton, 1982, known from a few, isolated collections in forested regions of North America, China and Japan. Herein, we describe a second species, Arborichthonius azarbaijaniensis Lotfollahi & Movahedzade sp. nov...
The degree of ecological specialization influences the biological performance of species in their natural environment and affects the coexistence of different taxa. However, on a small scale, the diversity of microarthropods that coexist in forest soils and leaf litter seems inordinately high, a situation known as the "enigma of soil animal species...
Three extant species of the oribatid mite genus Collohmannia (Collohmanniidae) have been named, of which two, C. gigantea Sellnick, 1922 and C. johnstoni Norton et Sidorchuk, 2014, are well known. The third—C. asiatica Krivolutsky et Christov, 1970—is known only from a brief, insufficient original description. Our purpose was to study and illustrat...
Nanohystrix hammerae n. gen., n. sp.-proposed on the basis of numerous adults and a few juveniles-is a new oribatid mite of the infraorder Enarthronota that appears to be phylogenetically relictual and endemic to northern New Zealand, in habitats ranging from native shrublands to native and semi-native forests. With an adult body length of 1-1.2 mm...
The opisthonotal (oil) glands of oribatid mites are the source of a wide diversity of taxon-specific defensive chemicals, and are likely the location for the more than 90 alkaloids recently identified in oribatids. Although originally recognized in temperate oribatid species, alkaloids have also been detected in related lineages of tropical oribati...
The purpose of this application, under Article 23.9.3 of the Code, is to conserve the widely used oribatid mite genus name Collohmannia Sellnick, 1922, which is threatened by the obscure senior subjective synonym Embolacarus Sellnick, 1919. The latter is based on a single fossil species whose type and only known specimen is lost; most subsequent li...
Abstract The most complex mechanical defense of oribatid mites is ptychoidy, in which the animals can retract their legs and gnathosoma into the idiosoma and encapsulate by deflecting the prodorsum. Since Acari lack most antagonistic musculature, extension of appendages is facilitated through hemolymph pressure that in mites mostly is generated by...
Collohmannia (Collohmanniidae) is a genus of physically large oribatid mites with low extant diversity and high endemism. It includes the only species outside Brachypylina known to exhibit strong sexual dimorphism and courtship behavior, including nuptial feeding, and it has phylogenetic importance as a possible close outgroup of the diverse mixono...
Oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) comprise a taxonomically and morphologically diverse suborder of about 10,000 described species, not including the hyporder Astigmata, with collectively a global distribution. They are primarily soil and litter inhabitants, feeding on fungi and decaying plant remains with various levels of specificity. Though all f...
With about 10,000 described species and densities reaching 400,000 ind/m2, the Oribatida (without Astigmata) represent the most prevalent group of soil mites. However, with the exception of their taxonomy, many aspects of the biology of oribatid mites have been poorly studied. This might be explained in part by the previous lack of a model species....
A new genus and species of enarthronote oribatid mite, Psammochthonius kethleyi n.g., n. sp., is described and illustrated based on adult and immature specimens collected from coastal sandy soil in Thailand (Phangnga), Brazil (SAo Paulo) and the U.S.A. (Mississippi). Analysis shows that it is a member of Hypochthonioidea, but not of any named famil...
Numerous adults and some juveniles of the oribatid mite Archegozetes magnus (Trhypochthoniidae) were collected from a single adult male túngara frog, Engystomops pustulosus (Leptodactylidae), in Panama. This is the first record of a non-parasitic mite species found on an anuran.
We studied exoskeletal and muscular adaptations to ptychoidy in the oribatid mite Phthiracarus globosus (Phthiracaridae, Phthiracaroidea) using synchrotron X-ray microtomography, and compared the results to Phthiracarus longulus, a closely related mite that we investigated earlier. As expected, both species show high similarity in most of the chara...
Question: A number of theories have been proposed to explain the dominance of sexual reproduction in Metazoa. Using oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatida) as model organisms, we test the validity of the structured resource theory of sexual reproduction (SRTS), which suggests that limited resources result in the dominance of sexual processes, whereas amp...
For the kingdom Animalia, 1,552,319 species have been described in 40 phyla in a new evolutionary classification. Among these, the phylum Arthropoda alone represents 1,242,040 species, or about 80% of the total. The most successful group, the Insecta (1,020,007 species), accounts for about 66% of all animals. The most successful insect order, Coleo...
The oribatid mite family Archaeorchestidae was proposed based on a single specimen of Archaeorchestes minguezae Aril-lo & Subías, 2000, from Lower Cretaceous amber (Spain). In a previous paper we redescribed Strieremaeus illibatus Sell-nick, 1918, from Eocene Baltic and Rovno amber, and considered Strieremaeus a senior synonym of Archaeorchestes. H...
Oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatida) represent one of the most abundant and speciose groups of microarthropods in the decomposer food webs of soils, but little is known of their top-down regulation by predators. Oribatids are relatively long-lived and have numerous morphological defensive adaptations, and so have been proposed to live in 'enemy-free s...
Strieremaeus is one of several oribatid mite genera proposed by Max Sellnick based on adult specimens preserved in Eo-cene Baltic amber. The original specimens of its type-species—S. illibatus Sellnick, 1918—were lost and the genus has received no further empirical study. For many years Strieremaeus was included in the family Eremaeidae, but recent...
A recent publication in Biology Letters added a new family, Eleutherodacytlidae, to the list of frogs known to possess defensive, toxic alkaloids in their skin—the so-called ‘poison frogs’ [[1][1]]. The alkaloids have attracted much attention since they are not synthesized by frogs de novo,
Hardening of adult oribatid mite cuticle by the deposition of crystalline calcium salts is demonstrated by a combination of X-ray diffraction and X-ray dispersion methods, in conjunction with experimental acid decalcification. Calcite (calcium carbonate) is the mineral deposited by mites representating the Ptyctima, but three species of Enarthronot...
The aquatic oribatid mite genus Mucronothrus (Trhypochthoniidae) is redescribed on the basis of characters of adults and immatures and its familial placement is reviewed. It is represented in North America by two species. Mucronothrus nasalis, a globally widespread species, is redescribed on the basis of all active instars. In Canada it is now know...
Relationships of the oribatid mite genus Propelops, whose members are common in the litter of North American coniferous forests, are assessed using the principles of phylogenetic systematics; characters of both adults and newly discovered immatures are analyzed. The closest relatives of Propelops are among the Phenopelopidae (despite the lack of sp...
A population of the aquatic oribatid mite Mucronothrus nasalis, living in a cold, hardwater springbrook near Toronto, Canada, was sampled monthly from July 1985 to July 1986 using a Surber sampler. Of nine sampling locations situated along the full 60 m length of the springbrook, the source had by far the highest density of mites. Mites were most a...
Poison frogs are chemically defended from predators by diverse alkaloids, almost all of which are sequestered unchanged from alkaloid-containing arthropods in the frog diet. Oribatid mites recently have been proposed as a major dietary source of poison frog alkaloids. Here, we report on alkaloids common to an oribatid mite and poison frogs. Gas chr...
Oribatida are one of the main groups of Acari comprising mostly important decomposers in soils. Most species are particle feeders, an exceptional mode of nutrition in Arachnida. Hence, their feeding organs, the gnathosoma, are of special functional interest. We studied nearly all components using scanning and transmission electron microscopies as w...
Oribatida are one of the main groups of Acari comprising mostly important decomposers in soils. Most species are particle feeders, an exceptional mode of nutrition in Arachnida. Hence, their feeding organs, the gnathosoma, are of special functional interest. We studied nearly all components using scanning and transmission electron microscopies as w...
Lohmanniidae is a moderately diverse family of macropyline oribatid mites that is usually grouped with taxa having opisthonotal glands, even though they themselves lack these glands. Morphological traits are examined for evidence that lohmanniids are instead members of Enarthronota, particularly the superfamily Hypochthonioidea. Six traits are cons...
The monotypic oribatid mite genus Scutoribates Sellnick, 1918 has been based only on fossil specimens of the type species—S. perornatus Sellnick, 1918—from Baltic amber. The type specimen is lost, and the genus has been assumed to be a junior subjective synonym of Eremaeozetes (Eremaeozetidae). Herein, we redescribe S. perornatus based on stereoand...
A new mite genus, Weigmannia (Oribatida: Damaeidae), is proposed for the North-American species Poro-belba parki described by Jacot (1937). It is distinguished from Porobelba Grandjean, 1936 based on differences in prodorsum morphology, the absence of an unpaired porose area on the notogaster and the development of notogastral setae. Poro-belba and...
Terrestrial fossils that document the early colonization of land are scarce for >100 my after the Cambrian explosion. This raises the question whether life on land did not exist or just did not fossilize. With a molecular dating technique, we analyzed the origin of terrestrial chelicerate microarthropods (Acari, Oribatida) which have a fossil recor...
Adults and immatures of Novonothrus kethleyi spec. nov. are described. These Oribatid specimens originate from a forest litter sample collected in Chile. The mite is distinguished from all congeneric species by a trilobed posterior notogastral margin, monodactylous legs, short, broad and distally rounded posterior notogastral setae, and a thick, sc...
The most complex defensive mechanism in oribatid mites is ptychoidy, a special body form allowing the animals to retract their legs and coxisternum into a secondary cavity in the idiosoma and to seal it off with the prodorsum. Many exoskeletal and muscular adaptations are required to enable the functionality of this mechanism, e.g. a soft and pliab...
1 ZOOTAXA ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) Article Scapheremaeus rodickae n. sp. (Acari: Oribatida: Cymbaeremaeidae) associated with temporary rock pools in Georgia, with Abstract A new and apparently endemic oribatid mite—Scapheremaeus rodickae n. sp. (Cymbaeremaeidae)—is described based on adult specimens collected f...
A new and apparently endemic oribatid mite—Scapheremaeus rodickae n. sp. (Cymbaeremaeidae)—is described based on adult specimens collected from mosses (Grimmia laevigata) growing on shallow soils in weathering depressions (rock pools) on granitic outcrops of the Georgia (USA) Piedmont. Scapheremaeus marginalis (Banks) is considered a senior subject...
