The soil mite family achipteriidae (acari: oribatida) in mongolia and russian far east

Abstract

This paper deals with the oribatid mites of Achipteriidae, one of the common families in Mongolia and the Russian Far East. The family is represented by six and fourteen species in Mongolia and the Russian Far East, respectively. In this work, we studied six recently collected species in detail, and their supplementary descriptions with precise illustrations are presented. We briefly discuss the species validity of Achipteria nitens (Nicolet, 1855), as well as the generic placement of Parachipteria nivalis (Hammer, 1952) and P. bella (Sellnick, 1928). Furthermore, we present data on habitat ecology, distribution and diversity of all achipteriid species in various areas of Mongolia and the Russian Far East, and provide a key for the identification of hitherto recorded species in these regions. The majority of achipteriid species found in Mongolia and the Russian Far East are known to be widely distributed in the vast areas of the northern hemisphere. Only three species have restricted distributions in the Russian Far East, Siberia and Mongolia. Most species of Achipteriidae in Mongolia and the Russian Far East are inhabitants of the litter of various forests, soils of grasslands or mosses growing on rocks or on forest floor; only two species seem to be arboreal inhabitants.