Abstract
Taxonomic revision of the marine mite genus Rhombognathides is executed in the phylogenetic and phenetic contexts. Relationships among all the species in the genus are analyzed by two different procedures, i.e. parsimony and distance, on the basis of morphological data. The parsimony analysis reveals several monophyletic lineages within the genus. Phylogenetic relationships among R. exoplus, R. nigrescens and R. seahami cannot be clarified due to the absence of informative apomorphies in these species The distance analysis shows a lack of phenetic distance between R. nigrescens and R. seahami. According to the characters used, these two species are not morphologically distinguishable from each other. These results suggest that R. nigrescens should be synonymous with R. seahami. Consequently, eight distinct species, Rhombognathides brevipes, R. exoplus , R. merrimani, R. mucronatus, R. pascens , R. seahami, R. spinipes and R. trionyx, can be recognized in the current taxonomy of the genus Rhombognathides.
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