Juvenile morphology of seven intertidal mite species (Acari, Oribatida, Ameronothroidea) from the East Asian region

ABSTRACT

The present paper provides information on juvenile stages of seven intertidal oribatid mite species from the East Asian region. Larva and nymphs of the fortuyniid species Fortuynia churaumi, F. shibai, F. rotunda and Alismobates reticulatus are described and details about juvenile morphology of the selenoribatid species, Arotrobates granulatus, Indopacifica taiyo and I. tyida are given. Juveniles of the genus Arotrobates are reported for the first time and strong ventral femoral carinae are supposed to be diagnostic characters. Basically, the conservative morphology of immature stages could be confirmed in every studied taxon and its importance for phylogenetic considerations is emphasized.

KEYWORDS:

• Nymphs
• ontogeny
• development
• Japan
• Fortuyniidae
• Selenoribatidae

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Prof. Michitaka Shimomura and Prof. Akira Asakura (Seto Marine Biological Laboratory Field Science Education and Research Center, Kyoto University) and Mr. Akita Katsumi for the samples from Kii-hantō. Thanks to Mr. Koji Uchida for providing additional samples from Ishigaki-jima. We are also grateful to Mr. Yuji Yamakawa (Yanbaru-Manabino-mori) and Mr. Hutoshi Taira (Ashi-muri-no-sato) for helping and supporting us during our fieldtrip on Okinawa-jima, and to Dr. Takuma Fujii and Dr. Mariko Suzuki (International Center for Island Studies Amami Station, Kagoshima University) for helping and supporting us during our fieldtrip on Amami-oshima. Special thanks to Prof. emeritus Minoru Shiba (Matsuyama Shinonome Junior College, Kuwabara, Matsuyama) for his help and hospitality during our stay on Shikoku.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This investigation was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF): [I 3815] for TP and by bilateral Programs, Joint Research Projects (JSPS) and JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 17K07271, 18K06392 for SS and SFH and Tokyo Metropolitan University (TMU) Fund for Strategic Research (Leader: Prof. Noriaki Murakami; FY2020-FY2022).