Abstract
This paper provides a review of the Mesostigmata mite material collected from 1992 up to 2009 in Latvia in a wide range of habitats: dead wood, Aphyllophorales fungi, forests, meadows, dune habitats, agricultural habitats, bogs, epiphytic mosses, and mites associated with Insecta and Vertebrata. A list of 368 Mesostigmata species of 27 families in Latvia with occurrence in different habitats is provided, which can be used as a future reference. According to occurrence among the habitats, the species are classified as generalist species, habitat specialist species or other species. About half of the species recorded were found to be specialist for a given habitat type. The highest proportion of habitat specialist species was found associated with the Vertebrata habitat. In total 39 species were recorded as generalist species; of them two (Parasitus kraepelini and Eviphis ostrinus) were recorded in 8 of the 10 habitat types. The highest number of generalist species was recorded in the Parasitidae (11 species), Aceosejidae (7 species) and Laelaptidae (5 species). Variation of the numbers of habitat specialist species within families among respective habitats was observed. Rhodacaridae and Laelaptidae had high number of specialist species in some habitat types. In total 32 rare species were recorded.
Highlights
Knowledge of species diversity is the key to understanding natural and disturbed ecosystems (BehanPelletier and Bissett, 1992), of which soil communities form an important part
The current paper provides a review of Mesostigmata mites in Latvia, and produces a species list with habitat preferences
Bog mite communities differed from the other habitats (Figure 1), probably because they had a low total number of species and habitat specialist species (Table 2)
Summary
Knowledge of species diversity is the key to understanding natural and disturbed ecosystems (BehanPelletier and Bissett, 1992), of which soil communities form an important part. Mites are the one of the largest and most biologically diverse groups of the arachnids, rivaling insects in the extent to which they have successfully colonized aquatic and terrestrial habitats (Evans, 1992). A wide and variable group of mites is the Mesostigmata (Acari, Parasitiformes), which are important free-living mites involved in ecosystem processes (Koehler, 1999). The original home of mites was probably decaying vegetation and soil, http://www1.montpellier.inra.fr/CBGP/acarologia/ ISSN 0044-586-X (print). ISSN 2107-7207 (electronic) which is where mites still have the highest diversity (Walter and Proctor, 1999). Mites have high diversity in other habitats.
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