Family MICROZETIDAE Grandjean, 1936

Museums

Regional Maps

• Microzetidae Grandjean, F. 1936. Les Microzetidae n. fam. (Oribates). Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France 61: 60-145.

Introduction

The family Microzetidae is large and diverse, with 49 genera and 197 species world-wide (Schatz et al. 2011). The family is cosmopolitan, but reaches its highest level of diversity in rainforest in the Neotropical Region (Norton & Behan-Pelletier 2009). The Australian fauna includes only a single identified species, records of unidentified species in four genera, and an unidentified species of Microzetidae as reported by Beyer et al. (2011). The single identified Australian species is described as cosmopolitan, but is divided into several subspecies, which may or may not be valid species (Subias 2011). Most of the Australian records of Berlesezetes ornatissimus are from agricultural habitats, and are listed by Colloff & Halliday (1998) under the name Berlesezetes auxiliaris. Walter & Stirling (2018) recorded unidentified specimens from sugar cane soil in Queensland.

General References

Beyer, S., Kinnear, A., Hutley, L.B., McGuiness, K. & Gibb, K. 2011. Assessing the relationship between fire and grazing on soil characteristics and mite communities in a semi-arid savanna of northern Australia. Pedobiologia 54: 195–200

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

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]

Walter, D.E. & Stirling, G.R. 2018. Microarthropods in Australian sugarcane soils: A survey with emphasis on the Mesostigmata as potential regulators of nematode populations. Acarologia 58: 673-682.

History of changes