Family GEHYPOCHTHONIIDAE Strenzke, 1963

Museums

Regional Maps

• Gehypochthoniidae Strenzke, K. 1963. Entwicklung und Verwandtschaftsbeziehungen der Oribatidengattung Gehypochthonius (Arach., Acari). Senckenbergiana Biologica 44: 231-255.

Introduction

The family Gehypochthoniidae is small, with only a single genus and nine species (Schatz et al. 2011). The family has not been reported from Africa, but is otherwise cosmopolitan (Subias 2011). Its species have been collected in sandy soil and sphagnum bogs at widely scattered localities (Norton & Behan-Pelletier 2009; Subias 2011). One cosmopolitan species and one endemic species are known from Australia, both from litter and soil in Eucalyptus forest and Acacia woodland (Lee 1982; Colloff & Halliday 1998), as well as a record of an unidentified species from a similar habitat (Moulton 1982).

General References

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

Lee, D.C. 1982. Sarcoptiformes (Acari) of South Australian soils. 3. Arthronotina (Cryptostigmata). Records of the South Australian Museum (Adelaide) 18: 327-359

Moulton, T.M. 1982. The effect of prescribed burning and simulated burning on soil and litter arthropods in open forest at Cordeaux, N.S.W. Australia. PhD Thesis, School of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University.

Norton, R.A. & Behan-Pelletier, V.M. 2009. Suborder Oribatida. pp. 430–564 in Krantz, G.W. & Walter, D.E. (eds). A Manual of Acarology. Lubbock, Texas : Texas Tech University Press Third edition, 807 pp.

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]

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