Morphological ontogeny of Oribatella reticulata (Acari: Oribatida: Oribatellidae)

ABSTRACT

The morphological ontogeny of Oribatella reticulata Berlese, 1916 is described and illustrated. The nymphs of this species are apopheredermous, i.e. they carry the exuvial scalps of previous instars away from the dorsal integument, using modified setal pair da. The larva has 12 pairs of gastronotal setae, including short h₃, the nymphs have 15 pairs, and most are long and barbed. In all juveniles, a humeral organ is absent, which is unique in Oribatella. The tritonymph of this species has more thickened setae on leg segments (d on all femora and genu IV, ev’ on femora III and IV, l on femora I–III and genua and tibiae I–IV) than the adult (l” on genua and tibiae I and II, l’ on genu and tibia IV).

KEYWORDS:

• Oribatid mites
• juveniles
• leg setation
• stage structure
• ecology

Acknowledgments

We thank the anonymous reviewers for all comments that improved the scientific value of this paper, and Dr Owen Seeman, the Editor of the International Journal of Acarology, for valuable editorial suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The ecological investigation was supported by a grant of the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research through the Core Program, project PN 19-270301.