Family OTOCEPHEIDAE Balogh, 1961

Museums

Regional Maps

• Otocepheidae Balogh, J. 1961. Identification keys of world oribatid (Acari) families and genera. Acta Zoologica Hungarica 7: 243-344.

Introduction

The Otocepheidae is a very large family, which includes 43 genera and 408 species world-wide (Schatz et al. 2011). The Australian fauna is poorly known, and includes only five genera and nine species, as well as a number of records of unidentified species. The most important contribution to the Australian fauna was by Balogh & Balogh (1983a, 1983b), who described six of the nine species, from rainforest litter in Queensland and New South Wales. Mites in this family are especially abundant in wet microhabitats in tropical regions, including leaf litter, moss, and wet rotting wood (Norton & Behan-Pelletier 2009).

General References

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

Balogh, J. & Balogh, P. 1983b. Data to the Oribatid fauna of Australia (Acari). II. Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungariae 29: 283-301

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.

History of changes