Family SCHELORIBATIDAE Grandjean, 1933
- Scheloribatidae Grandjean, F. 1933. Étude sur le développement des Oribates. Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France 58: 30-61.
Introduction
The family Scheloribatidae is very large, including 49 genera and almost 500 species (Schatz et al. 2011). The family is cosmopolitan, and its members are often very abundant, even in artificial or disturbed habitats. Most appear to be fungus feeders, but some species feed on the roots of living plants and may become crop pests. Some species can also act as intermediate vectors of cestode parasites of livestock (Norton & Behan-Pelletier 2009). The Australian fauna includes 20 species in five genera, with most of the species described by Lee (1989) and Lee & Pajak (1990). Some of the published records are based on misidentified specimens, as discussed by Colloff & Halliday (1998). Unidentified species have been recorded from Australia a number of times as listed for each genus, and unidentified Scheloribatidae were also reported by O'Dowd et al. (1991), Walter & Behan-Pelletier (1993), Osler & Beattie (2001), Adolphson & Kinnear (2008), Majer et al. (2013) and Walter & Stirling (2018). Callan et al. (2011) also recorded a species identified as Scheloribatidae/Protoribatidae.
Subias (2004, 2011) incorrectly recorded Reductobates bullager (Hammer, 1967) from Australia. All the localities listed for this species by Hammer (1967) are in New Zealand.
Excluded Taxa
- Misidentifications
Scheloribatidae: Reductobates bullager (Hammer, 1967) — Hammer, M. 1967. Investigations on the Oribatid fauna of New Zealand. Part II. Biologiske Skrifter Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab 15(4): 1-64 pls I-XL
General References
Adolphson, H. & Kinnear, A. 2008. Acari (mite) assemblages under plantations of bluegum, Eucalyptus globulus, in southwestern Australia. Pedobiologia 51: 427–437
Callan, S.K., Majer, J.D., Edwards, K. & Moro, D. 2011. Documenting the terrestrial invertebrate fauna of Barrow Island, Western Australia. Australian Journal of Entomology 50: 323–343
Lee, D.C. 1989. Hemileius (Acarida : Cryptostigmata : Scheloribatidae) from South Australian soils. Records of the South Australian Museum (Adelaide) 23: 97-111
Lee, D.C. & Pajak, G.A. 1990. Scheloribates Berlese and Megascheloribates gen. nov. from southeastern Australia, with comments on Scheloribatidae (Acarida : Cryptostigmata : Oriopodoidea). Invertebrate Taxonomy 4: 205-246
Majer, J.D., Callan, S.K., Edwards, K., Gunawardene, N.R. & Taylor, C.K. 2013. Baseline survey of the terrestrial invertebrate fauna of Barrow Island. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 83: 13-112.
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.
O'Dowd, D.J., Brew, C.R., Christophel, D.C. & Norton, R.A. 1991. Mite-plant associations from the Eocene of southern Australia. Science (Washington, D.C.) 252: 99-101
Osler, G.H.R. & Beattie, A.J. 2001. Contribution of oribatid and mesostigmatid soil mites in ecologically based estimates of global species richness. Austral Ecology 26: 70–79
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
Walter, D.E. & Behan-Pelletier, V.M. 1993. Systematics and ecology of Adhaesozetes polyphyllos sp. nov. (Acari: Oribatida: Licneremaeoidea), a leaf-inhabiting mite from Australian rainforests. Canadian Journal of Zoology 71: 1024-1040
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
| Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05-Dec-2019 | Acari | 20-Sep-2021 | MODIFIED | Dr Bruce Halliday |
| 01-May-2017 | Acari | 20-Sep-2021 | MODIFIED | Dr Bruce Halliday |
| 07-May-2013 | 20-Sep-2021 | MODIFIED | ||
| 07-May-2013 | 07-Aug-2012 | MOVED | ||
| 07-May-2013 | 28-Jul-2010 | MOVED | ||
| 07-May-2013 | 28-Jul-2010 | MOVED | ||
| 08-Jul-2010 | MODIFIED |