Family ASTEGISTIDAE Balogh, 1961

Museums

Regional Maps

• Astegistidae Balogh, J. 1961. Identification keys of world oribatid (Acari) families and genera. Acta Zoologica Hungarica 7: 243-344.
• Maorizetidae Luxton, M. 1985. Cryptostigmata (Arachnida: Acari) - a concise review. Fauna of New Zealand 7: 1-106.

Introduction

The family Astegistidae includes eight genera and 48 species world-wide (Schatz et al. 2011). The family is cosmopolitan, but is most diverse in the Oriental and Australasian Regions (Subias 2004, 2011). The Australian fauna includes only three identified species, as well as records of unidentified species in a further two genera. Two of the three known species were described by Balogh & Balogh (1983), from rainforest litter in northern New South Wales. The family includes the genus Maorizetes, which Colloff & Halliday (1998) placed in a separate family Maorizetidae Luxton, 1985.

General References

Balogh, J. & Balogh, P. 1983. New Oribatid mites from Australia (Acari : Oribatei). Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungariae 29: 81-105

Colloff, M.J. & Halliday, R.B. 1998. Oribatid Mites: A Catalogue of the Australian Genera and Species. Melbourne : CSIRO Publications.

Luxton, M. 1985. Cryptostigmata (Arachnida: Acari) - a concise review. Fauna of New Zealand 7: 1-106

Schatz, H., Behan-Pelletier, V.M., OConnor, B.M. & Norton, R.A. 2011. Suborder Oribatida van der Hammen, 1968. pp. 141–148 in Zhang, Z.-Q. Animal Biodiversity: An Outline of Higher-level Classification and Survey of Taxonomic Richness. Auckland : Magnolia Press.

Subias, L.S February 2011. Listado sistemático, sinonímico y biogeográfico de los ácaros oribátidos (Acariformes: Oribatida) del mundo (excepto fósiles). Departamento de Zoología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain. http://www.ucm.es/info/zoo/Artropodos/Catalogo.pdf [date of access 1 October 2011]

Subias, L.S. 2004. Listado sistemático, sinonímico y biogeográfico de los ácaros oribátidos (Acariformes, Oribatida) del mundo (1758-2002). Graellsia 60 (Supplement): 3–305

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