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Ascidae, Blattisociidae and Melicharidae (Acari: Mesostigmata): Zoogeographic analyses based on newly available databases
Abstract
Until recently, species of the families Ascidae Voigts & Oudemans, Blattisociidae Garman and Melicharidae Hirschmann
were considered to belong to a single family, Ascidae, based on their similarity in external morphology. Databases on the
distribution and biology of species in those families have been collected are now freely available. This information allows
the first zoogeographic analysis of these groups. Almost 2200 records obtained from about 820 publications were entered
into the databases, which are periodically updated. The countries with the highest known diversity of mites of these groups
are: Ascidae—Russia (56), United States of America (42), China (37) and Poland (36); Blattisociidae—China (47), United
States of America (41), Ecuador (38), India (33) and Poland (32); Melicharidae—United States of America (46), Brazil
(23), Ecuador (20) and Poland and Germany (15). No species of these families have been reported from about 44% of the
countries, most probably because of inadequate sampling effort. Comparing the species composition of the different regions,
Jaccard similarity indexes were low, being higher between the Palaearctic and Saharo-Arabian regions for the ascids
(0.15), between the same regions for the blattisociids (0.19) and between the Neotropical and Panamanian regions for the
melicharids (0.18). These data are compatible with the results of parsimony analyses of endemicity (PAE), in which those
pairs of regions constituted distinct clades. The analyses suggest that Ascidae probably originated in the Palaearctic region,
whereas Blattisociidae and Melicharidae probably originated somewhere in the Neotropical or Panamanian regions.
... The family Ascidae includes almost 400 species in either very large genera (e.g., Asca von Heyden, 1826, 148 species;Antennoseius Berlese, 1916, about 60 species), or very small ones (Xenoseius Lindquist & Evans, 1965, 3 species;Maxinia Lindquist & Makarova, 2012, 1 species;etc.) (Moraes et al., 2016;Santos et al., 2018;Rueda-Ramírez et al., 2022;Joharchi et al., 2023;Martin et al., 2023). The middle-sized genus Zerconopsis Hull, 1918 includes 18 known species worldwide (Mesa Cobo et al., 2021). ...
... Zerconopsis has not been found in Africa or Antarctica, and most of the described species (83%) were found in the Palaearctic Region (Santos et al., 2018;Mesa Cobo et al., 2021), which clearly reflects the current level of knowledge. Mites in this genus occur in litter-soil habitats including waterlogged sites, and dormant eggs of hydrophilous species can withstand four months of inundation (Tamm, 1984). ...
A new soil-dwelling mite species, Zerconopsis sibiricus sp. nov., is described from Russia based on the females, males, and nymphs. It occurs in plain and mountain areas of Siberia and the Far East (27 localities), in tundra (Low Arctic) and taiga landscapes, including the area of the Cold Pole of the Northern Hemisphere. Another species, Zerconopsis michaeli Evans & Hyatt, 1960, is first reported from Denmark, Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and California, USA (23 new records). Its male, nymphs, and larva are first described, and the female description is corrected with illustrations. The range of Z. michaeli in the Old World can be considered as an Amphi-Palaearctic one, excluding areas with very cold and/or continental climates. This species dwells in forest litter, rotten wood, and bracket fungi; however, in Northern Europe almost all records are from arboreal (woody, fungal) habitats. The genus Zerconopsis Hull, 1918 now includes 19 described species from all continents except Africa and Antarctiсa. A revised generic diagnosis is provided, and three morpho-ecological species groups are recognised. A key for the five Zerconopsis species residing in Siberia is given.
... Proctolaelaps is the most diverse genus of the family Melicharidae, with 170 species; the number of species in the 13 other melicharid genera varies between 1 and 38 (Santos et al. 2021). Santos et al. (2018) and Silva et al. (2020) gave the number of species in Proctolaelaps as 141. But Santos et al. (2022) corrected that number of Proctolaelaps species, taking into account the most recent information about a genus newly created by Mašán et al. (2021), Mycomelichares, to which P. cyllodi Samšiňák and P. slovacus Mašán were transferred. ...
In this paper, two new species of Proctolaelaps Berlese are described. P. vanharteni sp.n. is described from Cape Verde, and P. zaheri AboShnaf & Moraes, n. sp., from Egypt. The second of these species had been inadvertently characterized in detail by AboShnaf & Moraes as P. pygmaeus (Müller). Additionally, Proctolaelaps bickleyi (Bram) is first reported from South Africa. The type species of the genus P. productus Berlese, as well as P. aegyptiacus Nasr (new senior synonym of P. debensis Jordaan and Loots) and P. bickleyi are complementarily described. A key to the Proctolaelaps species reported so far from Africa is given.
Publication registration http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org.pub:40EC4509-4A1B-4B5E-9680-748AE8DD3993.
Taxa registration: Proctolaelaps vanharteni http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:EDE5B3A2-4F51-4120-A0E2-171EC741E422.
Proctolaelaps zaheri http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:8A93A387-2FCE-4E77-B7A2-551EFB6F7008.
... Invertebrates have been featured in a series of regional-level cluster analyses (e.g. Perera et al., 2021), with the work of Santos et al. (2018) on mite regionalisation at a global scale. In addition, few studies have used mapping as a tool for visualising invertebrate regional clusters, making them difficult to compare with vertebrate regionalisation schemata. ...
Invertebrates make up the majority of all living species on earth. Nevertheless, our understanding of the global distribution of terrestrial biodiversity and regional patterns therein has thus far been almost entirely based on vertebrate and vascular plant patterns. Here we try to provide some information on the global biogeography of the largest invertebrate order, the beetles (Coleoptera). We compile and analyse a database of beetle distributions, containing presence-absence data for 177 coleopteran families across 827 ecoregions. We map family richness and weighted endemism and find the highest values in the Neotropics and Southeast Asia, but also in the temperate northern hemisphere. Important centres of beetle family endemism include the western and southern parts of North America, Central America, temperate South America, Europe, South, Southeast and East Asia, and eastern Australia. A series of UPGMA cluster analyses were used to produce two global regionalisation maps. As analyses on the complete dataset failed to produce contiguous clusters, two sub-datasets were considered. The first one excluded widespread families and family-poor ecoregions, and the second was restricted to endemic-rich ecoregions. The clusters resulting from the first analysis are partly similar to vertebrate-and plant-based regionalisation schemes, with easily discernible and extensive Holarctic and Holotropical regions, but also include numerous smaller regions, mostly in the temperate parts of the southern Hemisphere (Andean, Patagonian, Matorral, New Guinean, New Caledonian, southern African), with Australia split between a tropical and a temperate/subtropical part. New Zealand is not analysed in this reduced dataset, but clusters with New Caledonia in the endemic-rich analysis, where further interesting subdivisions emerge (mainly in East Asia and western North America). We discuss these patterns in the light of coleopteran dispersal and the habitat requirements predominant across the coleopteran phylogeny, while considering the age of beetle families.
... It should be mentioned here that even into the modern era, most schemata are still limited to vascular plants and tetrapod vertebrates. In this context, one has to highlight the global studies of Vanderpoorten et al. (2010) -bryophytes, (Gergocs andHufnagel, 2015;Calatayud et al., 2021;Santos et al., 2018;Liria et al., 2020) -arthropods. Many more studies consider diverse taxa at the regional scale. ...
Regionalization is the discipline that groups geographic areas of the world into regions based on predetermined criteria. While these may be abiotic criteria (e.g., climate), in biogeography the term (more specifically referred to as bioregionalization), has essentially come to mean that regions are defined on the basis of distribution patterns in living organisms. Most often this has been done using species of tetrapod vertebrates and vascular plants, with other studies considering other taxa, or shared branch lengths in the phylogenies for these groups. This process was initially performed intuitively, but currently, this is achieved using increasingly sophisticated algorithms. The results for approaches using different methods and looking at different taxa tend to converge towards common global schemata which can be explained using past and present climate, plate tectonics, and the evolution of life on Earth. Preserving distinctive assemblages of living organisms, as illustrated in regionalisation exercises, is increasingly viewed as one important facet of biodiversity conservation.
... The other Mesostigmata species already represented on BOLD and reported in the USA correspond to widely distributed species. Asca garmani and L. youcefi are cosmopolitan species, found in several continents in various edaphic substrates, as well as in plants and nests Santos et al. 2021;Santos et al. 2018). Stratiolaelaps scimitus, despite being confused with Stratiolaelaps miles (Berlese 1892), is a well-known species used commercially as a biocontrol agent and known to be adventive in several countries (Walter & Campbell 2003). ...
Current and future legislation requiring the reduction of pesticides use, coupled with global initiatives for the promotion of soil health and conservation of soil biodiversity are creating opportunities for studies aimed at highlighting ecosystem services provided by functioning soil food webs in agricultural systems, including soil predatory mites. However, the key personnel for performing such studies are expert taxonomists, who are already spread very thin. To meet this demand, we propose an integrative approach where scientists (without expertise in taxonomy) play a significant role in supporting expert taxonomists. Soil samples were collected at the USDA ARS Farming Systems Project (FSP) at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, either incubated or not, followed by extraction of mites and nematodes. Improved modified Berlese funnels and an extraction protocol were utilized to improve sequencing success. Incubation dramatically enhanced the number of extracted individuals per sample whilst the daily freezing of extracted mites substantially improved the sequencing success rate compared to previous studies. Taken together, this led to the addition of records for eight Mesostigmata and ten Oribatida BINs to BOLD (Barcode of Life Datasystem). Fifteen species of Mesostigmata species were found, with three dominant species, Cycetogamasus diviortus (Athias-Henriot, 1967) (Parasitidae), Lasioseius youcefi Athias-Henriot 1959 (Blattisociidae) and a new species of Gamasellodes (Ascidae). LTSEM imaging followed by molecular identification contributed further details to the published descriptions of C. diviortus and L. youcefi. In line with our general aim, collecting, extracting, identification to morpho-species, sample preparation for DNA barcoding and uploading relevant information to BOLD was performed by trained personnel, but without taxonomic expertise. Whereas our skilled taxonomists focused on the morphological identifications using light microscopy, expanding on existing descriptions using LTSEM images and in a subsequent manuscript the description of a new species. We believe this division of tasks and labor will set the stage for further collaborative integrated studies between ecologists, biocontrol specialists and expert taxonomists for the identification, evaluation, and description of known and novel soil acarine biological control agents (BCAs).
... However, ToL is limited to large assemblage of mites (family or superfamily as Tydeoidea) and the site has not been updated since 2011. Other online databases on mite species are currently in use as those published by Migeon et al. (2011Migeon et al. ( , 2021 for Tetranychidae, by Castro et al. (2020Castro et al. ( , 2021 for Tenuipalpidae, by Demite et al. (2014Demite et al. ( , 2021 for Phytoseiidae, by Santos et al. (2018Santos et al. ( , 2021a for Ascidae, Blattisociidae and Melicharidae. ...
An online database on the taxonomy of Tydeoidea is described and is available on the Wikispecies platform at https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tydeoidea. It counts 1 324 records or pages, 724 records for the Tydeidae, 334 for the Ereynetidae, 203 for the Iolinidae and 63 for the Triophtydeidae. For each taxon are detailed the parent taxa as well as the child taxa which are listed. A nec subsection lists names of child taxa that are not recommended. Subjective and objective synonymies as well as homonymies are given for each taxon. Notes provide historical aspects of past studies. The type locality and habitat of the name-bearing type and its repository are added for the nominal species-group taxa. Fossil species, species inquirendae and nomina nuda are also reported. References and external links end up a record. Tetranychus viburni Koch is resurrected from synonymy with Tetranychus urticae Koch and placed in Tydeidae; it might be a senior synonym of Tydeus goetzi Schruft. Replacement names are provided for Aureliana and Tydides (homonymy) and for Paratydaeolus clavatus (synonymy).
... As for the databases of the families Ascidae, Blattisociidae and Melicharidae (Santos et al. 2018(Santos et al. , 2020a(Santos et al. , 2020b(Santos et al. , 2020c, the computational framework used for the Tenuipalpidae catalogue was adapted from that of the Phytoseiidae Database (Demite et al. 2014. This structure, and the necessary adaptation for the new database, were made by the company "E-client Information Technology", Piracicaba, state of São Paulo, Brazil. ...
This paper announces a database on the taxonomy, distribution and host plants of mites of the family Tenuipalpidae Berlese (Acari: Tetranychoidea), available online at https://www.tenuipalpidae.ibilce.unesp.br/. In the Tenuipalpidae Database the recorded world distribution and range of host plants are provided for each tenuipalpid species, including synonyms, with a list of all relevant publications.
... They are often phoretic on flies and moth adults, whose eggs and small larvae serve as their food (Gerson et al. 2003). Recent studies have led to the separation of these species into three families, two of which (Ascidae and Melicharidae) were placed in the superfamily Ascoidea and one (Blattisociidae) in the Phytoseioidea (Krantz and Walter 2009;Santos et al. 2018). ...
Potato tubermoth (PTM) Phthorimaea operculella (Lep.: Gelechiidae) is one of the pest species affecting Solanaceae worldwide. It can cause up to 80% of losses in potato open air crops as well as damage up to 100% of tubers during storage. Blattisocius (= Typhlodromus) mali (Acari: Blattisociidae), a predatory mite, was studied as a potential biological control agent of PTM. A prey acceptance bioassay of PTM eggs was carried out. Additionally, two bioassays have been conducted under microcosm conditions, which assessed the densities of mite releases at two levels of PTM infestation. The results showed that B. mali female adults accept PTM eggs as prey, and they cause a mortality rate 89.63 ± 2.47%, 48 h later. In addition to this, under microcosm conditions with potato tubers, we found at low infestation level that the effectiveness of the predatory mite varied from 72.50 ± 28.50 to 100%, 28 days later, according to the release rate of mites. Under high infestation level, the effectiveness of biological control of the pest varied from 53.36 ± 25.55 to 92.51 ± 7.88%, also according to the release rate of the mites. The possible use of biological control with B. mali of PTM, in different types of potato storage, is analysed and discussed.
... Cuba is one such area. Before the present study, only three species each of Ascidae and Macrochelidae, and ten species of Laelapidae, had been reported from Cuba (Dusbábek, 1970;Iavorschi, 1980;Karg, 1981Karg, , 1985Cuervo et al., 1995;Ramos et al., 2007;Moraes et al., 2016;Santos et al., 2018). In this paper we add to that fauna by describing a new genus and species of Laelapidae and a new species of Gaeolaelaps Evans & Till, 1966, and reporting another three species, which are new for the Cuba. ...
This paper presents a new genus, two new species, and several new records of mites associated with insects and soil in Cuba. A new monotypic genus of Laelapidae, Acantholaelaps gen. nov., is described to accommodate a new species, A. strategus sp. nov., on the basis of adult female and male specimens collected on Strategus sarpedon (Burmeister) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) and Strategus surinamensis hirtus Sternberg (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). The other species recorded were Macrocheles merdarius (Berlese) (Macrochelidae), Asca quinquesetosa Wharton (Ascidae), Gaeolaelaps cubaensis sp. nov. (Laelapidae) and Pseudoparasitus missouriensis (Ewing) (Laelapidae).
Adult females of a new species, Mucroseius insolitus sp. nov., are
described from the metathoracic spiracular atria of the Black pine
sawyer beetle Monochamus galloprovincialis (Coleoptera:
Cerambycidae) from Asian Russia (Altai Republic and Tyumen
Province). The new species differs from all congeners by the absence
of the otherwise autapomorphic distal flangelike process (mucro) of
the fixed chela. The genus Mucroseius is recorded for the first time in
Russia, and its generic concept is reviewed.
The genus Calyptoseius gen. nov. of the subfamily Platyseiinae Evans is described, based on adults and nymphs of one newly described species associated with ants of the genus Azteca occupying hollow stems of Cecropia in lowland rainforests of Costa Rica. Several unusual morphological attributes are noted, particularly the autapomorphic presence of four elongated setae on each of telotarsi II to IV. Some perspectives of these mites in the Cecropia-Azteca association are discussed, including a possible dispersal link via nematoceran flies to gain access to such an unusual habitat. The definition of the previously monobasic genus Cheiroseiulus is augmented, and also modified in view of an undescribed species at hand, and the subfamily definition is modified to account for morphological aspects of the new genus. A key to the genera of the Platyseiinae is given.
Predatory mites are among the natural enemies considered for the control of damaging mites and some small insects. It is conceivable that effective control agents could be found in the Ascidae, Blattisociidae and Melicharidae, families whose members are rather similar morphologically. Together, these families comprise over 900 described species. It is estimated that slightly over half of these were described from soil, grasses, mosses or dead organic matter on the soil surface. The main emphasis in this review lies on a discussion about aspects most related to the possible use of members of these families as biological control agents, namely on their association with other organisms (including their capacity to disperse between parts of the preferred habitats), feeding habits and general biology. Most of the studied species of this group of families belong to Blattisocius Keegan and Lasioseius Berlese (both Blattisociidae) and Proctolaelaps Berlese (Melicharidae). Species of these and other genera have been shown to be generalists. Despite the relatively little effort dedicated to evaluate the potential use of these mites as biological control agents, some have been reported as very promising. Prospective uses can be inferred mainly from studies involving pests living in humid habitats, as for example rice crop, as well as soil and storage pests. In order for these mites to be effectively used by growers, efforts should be concentrated on fieldwork to validate promising laboratory results.
Two new genera Makarovaia and Hispiniphis are described from adults and immatures of newly described species associated with hispine beetles of the genera Chelobasis and Cephaloleia, respectively, occupying unfurled leaves of Heliconia in lowland rainforest of Costa Rica. The new genera share a suite of unique morphological attributes, but are tentatively assigned to the family Melicharidae. While all instars of the mites can be found under the elytra of their adult beetle hosts, adult mites also move freely on and off the beetles. A new form of laboulbeniaceous fungus of the genus Rickia is frequently associated with adult mites of Makarovaia as well as their beetle hosts, yet evidently rarely with mites of a species of Hispiniphis or its beetle hosts which may co-occupy the same host leaves. Limited data suggest considerable host specificity between mites and their beetle hosts. Whether the association of these mites with hispine beetles may be ancient, prior to the beetles' adaptation to living in unfurled leaves of host plants, or is a more recent invasion and partitioning of the rolled leaf beetle fauna, is discussed.
This paper announces a database on the taxonomy and distribution of mites of the family Phytoseiidae Berlese, which is available online at http://www.lea.esalq.usp.br/phytoseiidae/. Synthesis of species diversity per genus, subfamily and country are given. Information about use of the database is provided.
A comprehensive, but simple-to-use software package for executing a range of standard numerical analysis and operations used in quantitative paleontology has been developed. The program, called PAST (PAleontological STatistics), runs on standard Windows computers and is available free of charge. PAST integrates spreadsheettype data entry with univariate and multivariate statistics, curve fitting, time-series analysis, data plotting, and simple phylogenetic analysis. Many of the functions are specific to paleontology and ecology, and these functions are not found in standard, more extensive, statistical packages. PAST also includes fourteen case studies (data files and exercises) illustrating use of the program for paleontological problems, making it a complete educational package for courses in quantitative methods.
Several methods have been proposed for use in identifying and classifying areas of endemism. Parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE) is the most widely used. It constructs cladograms based on the cladistic analysis of presence–absence data matrices of species and supraspecific taxa. Several authors have criticized PAE, usually because they have misunderstood its theoretical basis. A summary of the procedure is presented here, along with a discussion of the interpretation of PAE cladograms. Some critics deny any place in evolutionary biogeography for non-phylogenetic approaches, but I believe evolutionary biogeography is a pluralistic discipline, where PAE has a place despite lacking a strictly phylogenetic perspective, and thus can be applied as the first step in an analysis. Other authors criticize the use of PAE as a cladistic biogeographical method, although their arguments may be circular because they refer to biogeographical analyses based on phylogenetic hypotheses. Finally, the use of PAE for identifying areas of endemism has been criticized because an optimality criterion is used a posteriori to select areas of endemism found by what have been considered as less appropriate means, and endemicity analysis (EA) has proved to be more efficient than PAE for identifying areas of endemism. Over the last few decades PAE has been used extensively to identify areas of endemism and to determine their relationships, playing a relevant role in evolutionary biogeography.
The genus Spadiseius gen. nov. of the ascoid family Melicharidae is described, based on all instars of two newly described species in Costa Rica and adults of four undescribed species in Costa Rica and Brazil. These mites undergo their life histories quickly in spike or spadix inflorescences of their plant hosts in lowland tropical rainforests, where they apparently feed on nectar or pollen. One inflorescence may bear hundreds of the developing mites in all instars. Pollen is found on all instars of these mites, which may act as miniature pollinators of their plant hosts. Adult males are strongly sexually dimorphic, with bizarrely modified setae peripherally on the body dorsum and on dorsal surfaces of the legs. These structures are thought to be used competitively for mates, in much the same way as in males of the related hummingbird flower mite genera Rhinoseius and Tropicoseius. Spadiseius calyptrogynae sp. nov. lives in inflorescences of a palm, Calyptrogyne ghiesbreghtiana, and has a phoretic association both with perching bats of the genus Artibeus, which are major pollinators of this plant, and scarab beetles of the genus Lagochile, which feed destructively on flowers of this plant. Spadiseius spathiphyllae sp. nov. lives in inflorescences of an aroid, Spathiphyllum friedrichsthalli, and is phoretic on meliponine bees of the genus Trigona that pollinate this plant. Polymorphism among adult males occurs in both species. In male S. calyptrogynae a "warty" ornamentation of the dorsal shield seems to be correlated with extreme elongation of certain body and leg setae, while in male S. spathiphyllae such disproportionate setal elongation seems correlated with more robust individuals of greater body and leg dimensions. Several newly recognized morphological attributes are noted among species of Spadiseius, including apically forked salivary styli.
Modern attempts to produce biogeographic maps focus on the distribution of species, and the maps are typically drawn without
phylogenetic considerations. Here, we generate a global map of zoogeographic regions by combining data on the distributions
and phylogenetic relationships of 21,037 species of amphibians, birds, and mammals. We identify 20 distinct zoogeographic
regions, which are grouped into 11 larger realms. We document the lack of support for several regions previously defined based
on distributional data and show that spatial turnover in the phylogenetic composition of vertebrate assemblages is higher
in the Southern than in the Northern Hemisphere. We further show that the integration of phylogenetic information provides
valuable insight on historical relationships among regions, permitting the identification of evolutionarily unique regions
of the world.
Historical biogeography is going through an extraordinary revolution concerning its foundations, basic concepts, methods, and relationships to other disciplines of comparative biology. There are external and internal forces that are shaping the present of historical biogeography. The external forces are: global tectonics as the dominant paradigm in geosciences, cladistics as the basic language of comparative biology and the biologist’s perception of biogeography. The internal forces are: the proliferation of competing articulations, recourse to philosophy and the debate over fundamentals. The importance of the geographical dimension of life’s diversity to any understanding of the history of life on earth is emphasized. Three different kinds of processes that modify the geographical spatial arrangement of the organisms are identified: extinction, dispersal and vicariance. Reconstructing past biogeographic events can be done from three different perspectives: (1) the distribution of individual groups (taxon biogeography) (2) areas of endemism (area biogeography), and (3) biotas (spatial homology). There are at least nine basic historical biogeographic approaches: centre of origin and dispersal, panbiogeography, phylogenetic biogeography, cladistic biogeography, phylogeography, parsimony analysis of endemicity, event-based methods, ancestral areas, and experimental biogeography. These nine approaches contain at least 30 techniques (23 of them have been proposed in the last 14 years). The whole practice and philosophy of biogeography depend upon the development of a coherent and comprehensive conceptual framework for handling the distribution of organisms and events in space.
Until recently, mites in the families Ascidae, Blattisociidae and Melicharidae together constituted what was considered to be a single family, the Ascidae (sensu lato). We include all three families in this catalogue because of their many morphological similarities, as well as for historic and ecological reasons. Together with most Phytoseiidae and some Ameroseiidae, these are the only mesostigmatid mites commonly found on plants. In this publication we initially provide a historic overview of these groups, summarising the changes in the taxonomic concepts of the genera and other subfamilial taxa. This is followed by a thorough characterisation of each family and genus. A dichotomous key for the separation of families and genera is included. We then list the species considered to belong to these families, with details of the literature concerning the taxonomy of each species, and information about their type specimens and type localities wherever possible. The numbers of taxa considered as valid in this publication are: 372 species in 17 genera of Ascidae, 367 species in 14 genera of Blattisociidae, and 206 species in 11 genera of Melicharidae. We attempt to place each species in the most appropriate genus. In doing so, we propose 30 new combinations, including a species here transferred from Ascidae sensu stricto to Rhodacaridae. We propose five new names to replace junior homonyms, one new generic synonymy, and one new specific synonymy. Some species are insufficiently known and could not be reliably placed in any genus; these are listed as species incertae sedis. We also provide a list of species and genera that have been placed in these families at some time, but which have been transferred to other groups.
Four new species of mites of the genus Hispiniphis are described, all among those upon which the original description of the genus was based, associated with beetles of different species of the hispine genus Cephaloleia. A key is given to the described species of Hispiniphis and Makarovaia, the known two genera whose adults and immatures are found under the elytra of rolled-leaf hispine beetles. Aspects of ontogenetic acceleration and duplication of some idiosomatic setae are discussed. Evidence of larviparity, along with problematical differences between small dimensions of the adult female genital area and a relatively large larva, are considered. An evolutionary trend towards smaller body sizes among these mites is discussed. Further evidence of host preferences by these mites is presented, along with indications that there may be a vast diversity of these mites associated with hispine beetles in the Neotropical Region.
More than 40,000 species of mites have been described, and up to 1 million may exist on earth. These tiny arachnids play many ecological roles including acting as vectors of disease, vital players in soil formation, and important agents of biological control. But despite the grand diversity of mites, even trained biologists are often unaware of their significance. Mites: Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour (2nd edition) aims to fill the gaps in our understanding of these intriguing creatures. It surveys life cycles, feeding behaviour, reproductive biology and host-associations of mites without requiring prior knowledge of their morphology or taxonomy. Topics covered include evolution of mites and other arachnids, mites in soil and water, mites on plants and animals, sperm transfer and reproduction, mites and human disease, and mites as models for ecological and evolutionary theories. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013. All rights are reserved.
Generic and familial concepts of the Ascidae Voigts and Oudemans (= Blattisociidae Garman, Aceosejidae Baker and Wharton) are reviewed and modified from a world standpoint. The postembryonic developments of chaetotactic and external morphological features of the body and appendages are discussed. Twenty-two genera in three subfamilies are recognized, keyed, and defined: Arctoseius Thor, Iphidozercon Berlese, Xenoseius nov., and Zerconopsis Hull in the Arctoseiinae Evans; Cheiroseius Berlese and Platyseius Berlese in the Platyseiinae Evans; Aceodromus Muma, Antennoseius Berlese, Arctoseiodes Willmann, Asca Heyden, Blattisocius Keegan, Diseius nov., Gamasellodes Athias-Henriot, Hoploseius Berlese, Lasioseius Berlese, Leioseius Berlese, Melichares Hering, Neojordensia Evans, Proctolaelaps Berlese, Protogamasellus Karg, Rhinoseius Baker and Yunker, and Zercoseius Berlese in the Ascinae Voigts and Oudemans.Newly synonymized genera are Hyattella Krantz under Lasioseius , Mucroseius Lindquist and Orolaelaps DeLeon under Melichares , Garmaniella Westerboer under Proctolaelaps , and Tropicoseius Baker and Yunker under Rhinoseius . Genera removed from the Ascidae include Africoseius Krantz, Digamasellus Berlese, Laelaptoseius Womersley, and Zygoseius Berlese.
Modified systems of nomenclature based on holotrichous Gamasina are introduced and applied to setae on the dorsum of the idiosoma and on the venter of the opisthosoma.
— We studied sequence variation in 16S rDNA in 204 individuals from 37 populations of the land snail Candidula unifasciata (Poiret 1801) across the core species range in France, Switzerland, and Germany. Phylogeographic, nested clade, and coalescence analyses were used to elucidate the species evolutionary history. The study revealed the presence of two major evolutionary lineages that evolved in separate refuges in southeast France as result of previous fragmentation during the Pleistocene. Applying a recent extension of the nested clade analysis (Templeton 2001), we inferred that range expansions along river valleys in independent corridors to the north led eventually to a secondary contact zone of the major clades around the Geneva Basin. There is evidence supporting the idea that the formation of the secondary contact zone and the colonization of Germany might be postglacial events. The phylogeographic history inferred for C. unifasciata differs from general biogeographic patterns of postglacial colonization previously identified for other taxa, and it might represent a common model for species with restricted dispersal.
From New Caledonia 30 new species are described and documented by differential diagnoses (as determination keys mostly) and by figures. The species belong to 16 different genera. The zoogeography of the genera is analysed and related to palaegeographical events to obtain indications of their origin and of the former conditions of ecosystems. Obviously above all the palaeogeographic events of the Jurassic have caused the origin of groups of genera.
Approximately 100 species of Lasioseius have beendescribed worldwide, yet only two species have been reported from Australia(L. boomsmai Womersley andL. queenslandicus Womersley). We recently identifiedboth of these species from rainforest canopy chemical knockdown collectionsand reared them from fungal sporocarps growing on dead trees and logs. We alsofound that species in the Lasioseius porulosus group,previously unreported from Australia, are often the most numerous predatorymites on the leaves of tropical rainforest trees and of tropical tree crops inQueensland. Herein, we provide new collection records, diagnoses andbiological information for the two previously known Australian species ofLasioseius; review the Australian members of theporulosus group; describe five new species(Lasioseius cuppa,L. quandong,L. traveni, L. wondjina andL. zaluckii); and present a key to the species ofLasioseius that inhabit rainforest leaves. One of the previous records ofL. queenslandicus is shown to represent a pantropicaltramp species,L. subterraneusChant (newly reported fromAustralia), and L. athiasae Nawar & Nasr is shown tobe a junior synonym ofL. queenslandicus.Gnorimus Chaudri, 1975, Indiraseius Dansehvar, 1987, andNeolaspina Halliday, 1995, are shown to be synonyms ofLasioseius.
The new species of mites described in this paper were discovered during surveys of the rats of Puerto Rico. These surveys have as their object the classification of arthropods associated with or parasitic upon rats to the end that possible new vectors of endemic typhus fever may be made known to investigators. Types of these new species are in the entomological collection of the Department of Medical Zoology, School of Tropical Medicine, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
More than 1982 species in 90 genera were included in an analysis of the biogeography of the Phytoseiidae, a family of predatory mites. Seven biogeographic regions were taken into account: Nearctic, Neotropical, Ethiopian, West Palaearctic, East Palaearctic, Oriental, and Australasian. The number of species was particularly high in the Neotropical, Oriental, and West Palaearctic regions. These regions also present the highest levels of species endemism. The number of genera was quite similar in all regions except for the Neotropics, which also had a high level of endemism. The possible Gondwanian (Neotropical, Ethiopian, Australasian, and Oriental regions) origin of the Phytoseiidae, most probably in the Neotropics, and their possible radiation to Laurasia (Nearctic, West Palaearctic, and East Palaearctic regions) are discussed. The comparison between genera and species in the different biogeographic regions indicate the importance of both dispersal and vicariance events in the evolution of the group. Dispersal is assumed to have been most important between Neotropical and Nearctic regions and between East Palaearctic and Oriental regions, whereas vicariance could have been the dominating process between Australasian, Ethiopian, and Oriental regions, as well as between West and East Palaearctic regions. A parsimony analysis of endemicity showed the Neotropical and the Nearctic regions to be isolated from the other regions. This is certainly due to a diversification after the continents drifted apart and then a high dispersal between Nearctic and Neotropical regions. Different phylogenetic hypotheses and scenarios are proposed for each subfamily based on the results obtained and further investigations are proposed.
Aim
The geographical distributions of animal and plant species endemic to the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands were analysed to locate and designate areas of endemicity.
Location
The Iberian Peninsula and the three largest Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza) in the western Mediterranean, West Palaearctic region.
Methods
The information analysed consisted of presence/absence data of animal and plant species, recorded on a 100 × 100 km grid based on the UTM projection system. From a larger initial data set, a simplified matrix of 480 species present in at least two quadrats was obtained, and processed to estimate the overall similarity patterns across land squares, and the areas of endemism. Two methods were employed to detect areas of endemism: Wagner Parsimony (PAE, or parsimony analysis of endemicity) and compatibility. A modification of PAE, PAE–PCE (Parsimony analysis of endemicity with progressive character elimination) was applied to overcome some of the potential shortcomings of the method.
Results
The results represent the first attempt for a combined analysis of animal and plant distributions in the western Mediterranean. The proposed PAE–PCE procedure proved useful to identify areas of endemism that would have been otherwise overlooked. Up to thirty‐six different areas of endemisms were identified. Some of these represent concentric (hierarchically nested) structures, while other are partly overlapping sectors. The endemism areas, as derived from parsimony and compatibility analyses, generally fit within the frame of the overall similarity approach.
Main conclusions
The areas of endemicity identified often coincide with mountain sectors, and this may be of incidental interest for conservation policies as most natural preserves in the study area are located in mountain ranges. The conclusions are of interest for large scale approaches to the biogeography of the Mediterranean Basin, facilitating the selection of endemism areas for operative purposes. However, most of the best supported areas of endemism detected are relatively small, or overlap with neighbouring endemism areas. Hence, adopting large area units such as `Iberia' for historical analysis at a wider geographical scale may be risky, because such units may actually represent composite sectors of an heterogeneous nature. The distribution of the areas of endemism, as well as the results of the overall similarity classification, share a number of features with previous sectorizations from independent, mostly phytogeographical, approaches. Parsimony analysis of endemicity is a potentially useful tool for identifying areas designated by species with congruent distributions, but (1) the results have no direct historical implications (for phylogenetic information is not incorporated), and (2) unless modifications such as the PAE–PCE procedure are applied, the number of potential areas of endemism (in the sense stated above) will often be underestimated. It is also shown that, in a PAE, a `total evidence' approach is to be preferred to a consensus of partial (taxon‐specific) results.
Present state of knowledge of Indian ascid mites (Acarina: Mesostigmata) and their zoogeographic distribution
- A K Bhattacharyya
Bhattacharyya, A.K. (2001) Present state of knowledge of Indian ascid mites (Acarina: Mesostigmata) and their zoogeographic
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(accessed 30 May 2017)
Phytoseiidae Database Available from
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A Manual of Acarology. 3 rd dition
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Prospects for Biological Control of Plant Feeding Mites and Other Harmful Organisms
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Die Familie Podocinidae Berlese 1916
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und Ökologie mitteleuropäischer Acarina. Band II. Mesostigmata I. Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft Geest & Portig K.G., Leipzig, pp. 179-450.
Mites of the genus Asca V. Heyden (Mesostigmata, Blattisociidae) from New Zealand
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Beiträge zur Systematik und Ökologie mitteleuropäischer Acarina
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Westerboer, I. (1963) Die Familie Podocinidae Berlese 1916. Abschnitt IV. In: Stammer, H.J. (Ed.), Beiträge zur Systematik
und Ökologie mitteleuropäischer Acarina. Band II. Mesostigmata I. Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft Geest & Portig K.-G., Leipzig, pp. 179-450.