Family SYMBIORIBATIDAE Aoki, 1966

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• Symbioribatidae Aoki, J. 1966. Epizoic symbiosis: an oribatid mite, Symbioribates papuensis, repesenting a new family, from cryptogamic plants growing on the backs of Papuan weevils (Acari: Cryptostigmata). Pacific Insects 8: 281-289.

Introduction

The Symbioribatidae is a small family, with only two genera and four species world-wide (Schatz et al. 2011; Subias 2011). All the described species are from Japan, Indonesia, and New Guinea. They have been found in cryptogamic plants growing on the elytra of a weevil, and under bark (Norton & Behan-Pelletier 2009). The family is known from Australia only from one or more unidentified species of Symbioribates collected on the leaves of a variety of plants in Victoria and Queensland (Colloff & Halliday 1998). O'Dowd et al. (1991) also recorded a potentially new fossil genus similar to Symbioribates.

General References

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.

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

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. 1995. Dancing on the head of a pin: mites in the rainforest canopy. pp. 49-53 in M.S. Harvey (ed.). Australasian Spiders and their Relatives: Papers Honouring Barbara York Main. Records of the Western Australian Museum 52(Supplement)

Walter, D.E., O'Dowd, D. & Barnes, V. 1994. The forgotten arthropods: Foliar mites in the forest canopy. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 36: 221-226

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

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