Zachvatkinibates svanhovdi A. Seniczak et S. Seniczak, 2023

K, Anna Seniczak, K, Stanisław Seniczak, Hagen, Snorre B. & Klütsch, Cornelya F. C., 2023, A new species Zachvatkinibates svanhovdi sp. nov. (Acari: Oribatida: Punctoribatidae) from Norway with comments on Punctoribatidae in Fennoscandia, Acarologia 63 (1), pp. 41-57 : 52-54

Comments on Punctoribatidae in Fennoscandia and new record of Mycobates carli

The family Punctoribatidae to which Zachvatkinibates belongs to is represented in Fennoscandia by four genera and ten nominative species, including Mycobates carli ( Schweizer, 1922) which is reported here as new to Norway and Scandinavian part of Fennoscandia ( Table 3). It was found in alpine tundra in Finse (Vestland, Western Norway, 60°35′14.0″N 7°30′50.2″E, 1228

m a. s. l., 06.08.2022, leg. Anna Seniczak), on forest floor with mosses and lichens. The description of climatic conditions in Finse was given earlier ( Seniczak & Seniczak 2021). This species was represented in the sample only by few adults, (density 10 individuals per 500 cm 3), and co-occurred with more abundant M. sarekensis ( Trägårdh, 1910) .

Mycobates carli has been mostly considered a southern European ( Subías 2004, 2022), European ( Weigmann 2006) or Eurosiberian species ( Honciuc 1993), known especially from the Central, Southern, Eastern, and South-Eastern parts of Europe. It has been reported from numerous localities in the Alps (Fischer & Schatz 2020, Schatz & Bruckner 2021), the Giant Mountains ( Materna 2000, Starý 2006, Miko 2013), Carpathian Mts. ( Nae & Băncilă 2017, Skubała & Maslak 2009), and is also known from Caucasus Mts. ( Schatz & Bruckner 2021).

In the north of Europe it has only been reported from plain tundra of the Kola Peninsula ( Leonov & Rakhleeva 2015). It is considered subalpine and alpine ( Weigmann 2006, Fischer & Schatz 2007), predominantly lichenocolous ( Materna 2000), and muscicolous ( Schatz & Bruckner 2021). It has been found in a peatland, 870 m a. s. l. ( Starý 2006), at dry limestone plateau, 550 m a. s. l. ( Lazarus & Krisper 2014), and in soils polluted with heavy metals in Romania, where it was associated with Cu, As and Mn ( Manu et al. 2019). Most often it has been collected from soil or ground vegetation, but has been also reported from the unique microhabitat of the intermediate layer between the base of the soil and the bedrock, called “mesovoid shallow substratum” ( Nae & Băncilă 2017) and from decaying wood ( Skubała & Maslak 2009).