Abstract
Eriophyoid mites (Eriophyoidea) are minute phytophagous mites with great economic importance and great invasive potential. In spite of their demonstrated impact on ecosystem functions, knowledge of eriophyoid mite fauna in the Arctic is lacking. To date, only eight eriophyoid mite species have been recorded from the entire region north of the Arctic Circle. The Svalbard archipelago is one of the most biologically investigated Arctic areas. Despite the fact that studies on invertebrates on Svalbard have been conducted for more than one hundred years, eriophyoids have never been recorded before from this place, except for one likely accidental record of a single specimen belonging to the genus Eriophyes. Thus, each new study of eriophyoid mite fauna in this region is important. In this paper, a new species of eriophyoid mite, Cecidophyes siedleckii n. sp., is described and illustrated. Nucleotide sequence data (D2 region of 28S rDNA) were employed to complement traditional morphological taxonomy. The first record of Aceria saxifragae (Rostrup 1900) from Svalbard is also provided, with supplementary morphological descriptions and illustrations. Eriophyoid mites represent an important and underutilized taxon that is available to ecologists studying the effects of changing climatic conditions on Svalbard.
Highlights
In polar regions, invertebrates occupy virtually all ecological niches, from the deep ocean floor to the surfaces of glaciers, including extreme environments, such as nunataks, tundra, and polar deserts, and they often constitute significant components of these harsh ecosystems (e.g., Dastych 1985; Janiec 1996; Dastych and Drummond 1996; Porazinska et al 2004; Coulson et al 2014b; Gorska et al 2014; Zawierucha et al 2015)
We describe a new species of eriophyoid plantfeeding mite, Cecidophyes siedleckii n. sp., using DNA data (D2 region of 28S rDNA) to complement traditional morphological taxonomy
Two different eriophyoid species were identified from the samples of S. oppositifolia based on morphological study: A. saxifragae (Rostrup, 1900) and C. siedleckii n. sp
Summary
Invertebrates occupy virtually all ecological niches, from the deep ocean floor to the surfaces of glaciers, including extreme environments, such as nunataks, tundra, and polar deserts, and they often constitute significant components of these harsh ecosystems (e.g., Dastych 1985; Janiec 1996; Dastych and Drummond 1996; Porazinska et al 2004; Coulson et al 2014b; Gorska et al 2014; Zawierucha et al 2015). The terrestrial invertebrate fauna of Svalbard consists of over 1000 species (Coulson et al 2014b), and invertebrates are still being discovered in this region as both new records and new species to science (e.g., Kaczmarek et al 2012; Zawierucha 2013; Zawierucha et al 2013; Dabert et al 2014; Coulson et al 2014a, b; Coulson et al 2015). While the invertebrate fauna of Svalbard is among the best known for any Arctic region (Hodkinson 2013), only about 115 mite (Acari) species have been recorded so far from the Svalbard archipelago, with the majority of them being soil-inhabiting Mesostigmata and Oribatida (Coulson et al 2014b). Many mite species have evolved in associations with other organisms (i.e., plant or animal hosts) that function as their
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
