New faunistic and taxonomic data on oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatida) of Ethiopia: results of the joint Russian-Ethiopian biological expedition in Arsi Mountains National Park

ABSTRACT

The present study is based on oribatid mite materials collected from Arsi Mountains National Park, Ethiopia, in 2021. A list of 43 species, belonging to 29 genera and 22 families, is presented; of these, three species (Scutovertex evansi, Scheloribates rugiceps and Pilogalumna arabica) are reported for the first time in the Ethiopian fauna. One new species—Antarctozetes behanpelletierae Ermilov sp. nov. (Punctoribatidae) – is described. An identification key to the known species of Antarctozetes from the Afrotropical region is provided.

http://www.zoobank.org/rurn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A480AE7B-B8BD-441B-A39A-4DBD21C3ED66

KEYWORDS:

• Fauna
• new record
• taxonomy
• Antarctozetes
• morphology
• identification key
• Afrotropical region

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Gezahegn Degefe for supporting our field studies and organizing laboratory work, Dr. Mikhail S. Ignatov for identification of moss species, Dr. Bulat F. Khasanov for identification of some plant species, Nikita A. Shulaev for SEM micrographs, and two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments. The work was performed within the framework of the Joint Russian-Ethiopian Biological Expedition, financially supported by the Russian Academy of Sciences. The collection of materials was conducted under the Agreement between the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Science and Technology (Ministry of Innovation and Technology) of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (17 Dec. 2020 – present).

Disclosure statement

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