Three new species of the genus Notophthiracarus (Acari: Oribatida: Phthiracaridae), with an updated key to its known species in New Zealand

Abstract

In this study, three new species of Notophthiracarus (Oribatida: Phthiracaridae) from New Zealand are described: Notophthiracarus sensifus sp. nov. from the Great Barrier Island, Broken Island and Rangiahua Island, Notophthiracarus sigifurcatus sp. nov. from the Bethells Matuku Reserve, Auckland, and Notophthiracarus chatham sp. nov. from the Mid Sisters Islands, Chatham Islands. An updated key to all known species of Notophthiracarus in New Zealand is provided.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:4D823C4A-9165-46CC-BCEF-DF4F6467F9E1

Keywords:

• soil mites
• Oribatida
• Phthiracaridae
• Notophthiracarus
• new species
• key
• New Zealand

Acknowledgement

We are very grateful to all collectors of specimens reported in this paper.

Additional information

Funding

The first author’s work was supported by the Funds for The Excellent Youth Scholars of “NEIGAE, CAS” [DLSYQ2012004], the Knowledge Innovation Programs of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [KSCX2-EW-Z-8], the Major Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China—Fauna Sinica [31493021], the key research program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [grant number KZZD-EW-TZ-16], the Scientific and Technological Developing Scheme of Jilin Province (No. 20130206073), and the National Natural Science-Foundation of China [grant number 31101617]. The second author’s research on defining New Zealand mites was supported by Core funding for Crown Research Institutes from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Science and Innovation Group.