A review of the cryptostigmatic mites of the family Zetomotrichidae (Acari: Oribatida) worldwide: morphology, identification key, distribution and ecology

Document Type : Review Paper

Author

Department of Plant Protection, School of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

10.22117/jesi.2025.370342.1757

Abstract

Oribatid mites of the family Zetomotrichidae (Acari: Oribatida) have been found in various habitats, including soil, litter, humus and moss; some of them are saxicolous or cavernicolous. These mites have a relatively low species diversity and are distributed across different regions of the world, particularly in the Palaearctic and Oriental regions as well as South Africa. To date, 16 genera belong to this family have been reported, which four of them— Zetomotrichus, Mabulatrichus, Ghilarovus and Iranotrichus— have been collected from various parts of Iran. South Africa, with five genera reports, exhibits the highest genus diversity, followed by Iran. Presence or absence of characters such as dorsosejugal furrow, ornamentation of the body surface (e.g., longitudinal lines or cerotegument), rostral indentation, custodium, overlapping lobes on the posterior tectum of the notogaster, pyriform organ, notogastral lyrifissure ia, as well as shape of the notogastral seta c2, morphology of the legs IV (either typical or modified for jumping), form of the epimeral setae, especially 1a, and number of the genital, anal and adanal setae are among the key features used to distinguish the genera within this family. In this paper, the global fauna of oribatid mites of the family Zetomotrichidae has been reviewed. All available literature published between 1934 and 2024 has been reviewed. The Iranian samples (approximately 150 individual mites on microscope slides), studied over a twenty-year period (2004 to 2014), and were collected from various regions of the country. All the specimens are preserved in the acarology collection of the Department of Plant Protection, School of Agriculture, Shiraz University. Among the 43 known species of this family, seven species have been reported from Iran. A global key for the identification of genera and species has been provided. The names of all genera are displayed on the maps, along with their precise geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude). In addition to a brief morphological description of each genus, the distribution and ecological information of these mites have also been discussed.

Graphical Abstract

A review of the cryptostigmatic mites of the family Zetomotrichidae (Acari: Oribatida) worldwide: morphology, identification key, distribution and ecology

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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