Trichoribates

Bayartogtokh, B. & Schatz, H., 2008, Trichoribates and Jugatala (Acari: Oribatida: Ceratozetidae) from the Central and Southern Alps, with notes on their distribution, Zootaxa 1948, pp. 1-35 : 1-2

[The genus Trichoribates ]

The oribatid mite genus Trichoribates was established by Berlese (1910) with Murcia trimaculata C. L. Koch, 1835 as type species. The generic name Murcia was first used by C. L. Koch (1835) to encompass several species, which presently belong to different genera. Later, several other authors (e.g. Banks 1895, 1896, 1909; Trägårdh 1902; Hall 1911; Ewing 1909, 1913; Sellnick 1928) used various names for the species of this genus, such as Claviceps , Jugatala , Murcia , Notaspis , Oribata , Oribatella , Oromurcia etc., some of which are now considered to be invalid names in the systematics of oribatid mites. Recently, Subías (2004, 2008) “ reintroduced ” the generic name Murcia in his list of the world oribatid mites, considering it as a senior synonym of Trichoribates . However, he did not provide any comment on his concept, and the necessity of the re-use of the old genus name is still unclear.

Previously “ Murcia ” encompassed not only species of Trichoribates , but also representatives of several other genera, such as Scheloribates , Humerobates , Ceratoppia , Ctenobelba etc., which are currently assigned to various families. Therefore, in our opinion, it is meaningless to adopt the name Murcia again, and to give it priority over the name of Trichoribates . This view is shared by Weigmann (2006). Furthermore, according to article 23.9 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (2000), it is inadmissible to use the name Murcia since it is a nomen oblitum, and has not been used for many years. Thus, in this paper, we accept Trichoribates as a valid genus.

Trichoribates , and two more closely related genera, namely Latilamellobates Shaldybina, 1971 and Vicinebates Pavlitshenko, 1991, were discussed by Bayartogtokh et al. (2002). Recently, Subías (2004, 2008) combined the latter two genera in the genus Viracochiella Hammer, 1961 considering Latilamellobates as a subgenus, and Vicinebates as a junior synonym of Hammer’s genus. In contrast, Weigmann (2006) considered both these names as junior Synonyms of Trichoribates .

The following characters, in combination, are considered here as diagnostic features of adult Trichoribates sensu stricto. Rostrum rounded; lamella wide, with cusp and translamella; lamellar cusp with or without lateral and median dens; bothridium cup-shaped; sensillus with clavate or oval head, rounded or flattened distally; tutorium broad, with cusp pointed or dentate distally; notogaster with large pteromorph curved ventrally, line of desclerotization absent; lenticulus present or absent; 10 or 11 pairs of notogastral setae, dp present or absent; four pairs of notogastral porose areas (exception, sacculi in T. polaris Hammer, 1953), porose areas Am and Ah present; six pairs of genital setae; all legs heterotridactylous; tibia I with dorsodistal apophysis bearing solenidion phi2; seta l" of tibiae and genua I, II and sometimes that of tibiae and genua III, IV thick, heavily barbed.

The genus Trichoribates is one of the most common and taxonomically diverse taxa of oribatid mites in the Northern hemisphere. It now comprises 51 valid species (including a new species described here), but only a few of them, such as T. trimaculatus , T. novus and T. copperminensis are widely distributed in the Holarctic region. Most other representatives seem to be relatively rare and are found only in restricted areas or are only known from the type localities. The geographical distribution of species of Trichoribates sensu stricto ranges from Europe including Caucasus (25 spp.), North America (17 spp., Behan-Pelletier & Schatz in press), Central and East Asia (16 spp.), Java (1 sp.) to Central (3 spp.) and South America (1 sp.). Most Trichoribates species are distributed in the Palaearctic (35 spp.) and Nearctic (17 spp.) regions, but relatively few are found in the Neotropical (3 spp.) and Oriental (1 sp.) regions. In the Central and Southern Alps we found five species, one of them represented as new to science. Most species are widely distributed in the Palaearctic region except the Central European species T. monticola ( Trägårdh, 1902).

Most species of this genus are litter inhabitants in various types of forests, but also occur in decaying wood, mosses, lichens, as well as in arboreal habitats. Some of them, e.g. T. rotundicuspidatus , T. latirostratus , T. novus , T. punctatus , T. trimaculatus are frequent in the soils of arid habitats (Bayartogtokh & Aoki 1998; Bayartogtokh et al. 2002; Bayartogtokh 2005).