Abstract
The monotypic oribatid mite genus Scutoribates Sellnick, 1918 has been based only on fossil specimens of the type species—S. perornatus Sellnick, 1918—from Baltic amber. The type specimen is lost, and the genus has been assumed to be a junior subjective synonym of Eremaeozetes (Eremaeozetidae). Herein, we redescribe S. perornatus based on stereoand compound-microscopy of embedded fossils at magnifications up to 1000X, and both direct observation and electron microscopy of removed cuticular fragments. Specimens included 52 non-type adult fossils from Eocene (Baltic and Rovno) amber, several of which had been studied and identified by Sellnick. One of the latter, housed in the Kaliningrad Museum of Amber (KMA; № 197-07), is designated neotype. A presumed tritonymph is also described. While Scutoribates and Eremaeozetes share certain aspects of facies, the genera are clearly not synonyms. Rather, Scutoribates is a senior subjective synonym of two monotypic extant genera currently included in different families: Kunstella Krivolutsky, 1974 in Oribatellidae and Koreoribates Choi, 1994 in Unduloribatidae (new synonymies). We show that Unduloribatidae is the appropriate family and list characters that distinguish the three known species of Scutoribates: S. perornatus Sellnick, S. foliatus (Choi) n. comb. and S. foveolatus (Krivolutsky) n. comb. The transfer of Scutoribates from Eremaeozetidae removes the only presumed tropical element from the oribatid fauna of Baltic amber. We also designate a neotype (№197-24 in the KMA) for the amber fossil species Tectoribates parvus Sellnick 1931; however, the currently used combination of Unduloribates parvus needs confirmation.References
Aoki, J. (1965) Oribatid mites (Acarina: Oribatei) from Himalaya with descriptions of several new species. Journal of the College of Arts and Sciences, Chiba University, 4, 289–302.
Baker, E.W. & Wharton G.W. (1958) An Introduction to Acarology. The MacMillan Co., New York: 465 pp.
Balogh, J. (1943) Systematische Studien über Siebenbürgische Moosmilben. Annales historiconaturales Musei nationalis Hungarici, Pars Zoologica, 36, 34–42.
Balogh, J. (1972) The Oribatid Genera of the World. Akademiai Kiadó, Budapest: 188 pp.
Balogh, J. & Balogh, P. (1992) The Oribatid Mites Genera of the World, vol. 1. Hungarian National Museum Press, Budapest, Hungary: 263 pp.
Bayartogtokh, B. (2003) Four species of Oribatid Mites (Acari: Oribatida) from Central and Southern Mongolia, with notes on the genera Montizetes and Zachvatkinibates. Mongolian Journal of Biological Sciences, 1, 3–19.
Behan-Pelletier, V.M., Eamer, B. & Clayton, M. (2005) Dendroeremaeidae n. fam., from forest trees in western North America (Acari: Oribatida: Licneremaeoidea). Acarologia, 46 (2004), 321–339.
Behan-Pelletier, V.M. & Walter, D.E. (2007) Phylleremus n. gen. from leaves of deciduous trees in eastern Australia (Oribatida: Licneremaeioidea). Zootaxa, 1386, 1–17.
Behan-Pelletier, V.M. & Walter, D.E. (2009) Unduloribates from North America (Acari, Oribatida, Unduloribatidae). Zootaxa, 2294, 47–61.
Berlese, A. (1914) Acari nuovi. Manipulus IX. Redia, 10, 113–150.
Choi, S. (1994) Taxonomic studies on soil mites (Acari: Oribatei) of Korea. Korean Journal of Applied Entomology, 33, 39–50.
Dubinin, V.B. (1962) The class Acaromorpha. Mites, or gnathosomic chelicerate arthropods. Fundamentals of Paleontology, 447–473. [in Russian]
Ezhova, E.E. (1995) Inclusion collection of the Museum of the World Ocean (Kaliningrad). Amber & Fossils, 1, 42–46.
Ezhova, E.E. (2010) On the scientific value of the samples of fossil Oribatida from the Baltic amber in the collections of Kaliningrad museums. Amber Mining and Processing in Sambia. International Symposium Abstracts. Kaliningrad, 12–14 May, 2010, 88–97.
Ezhova, E.E. & Kostyashova, Z.V. (1997) Specimens of fossil oribatids (Acarina, Oribatida) from Baltic amber in the museums of Kaliningrad (Russia). Sonderheft Metalla, 45–50. [In Russian].
Grandjean F. (1934) Les poils des épimères chez les Oribates (Acariens). Bulletin du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (sér. 2), 6, 504–512.
Grandjean, F. (1949) Observation et conservation des trés petits arthropodes. Bulletin du Muséum, 21, 364–369.
Grandjean F. (1954) Essai de classification des Oribates (Acariens). Bulletin de la Société zoologique de France, 78, (1953), 421–446.
Grandjean F. (1962) Le genre Tegeocranellus Berl. 1913 (Oribates). Acarologia, 4, 78–100.
Grishina, L.G., (1970) Oribatid mites of Northern and Central Altai. Thesis of the dissertation for candidate's degree in biology. Moscow, 23 pp. [in Russian].
Jacot, A.P. (1929) Genera of Pterogasterine Oribatidae (Acarina). Transactions of the American Microscopical Society, 48, 416–430.
Kielbach, R. (1982) Bibliographie und Liste der Arten tierischer Einschlüsse in fossilen Harzen sowie ihrer Aufbewahrungsorte. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, 29, 129–286.
Krivolutsky, D.A. (1974) New oribatid mites of the USSR. Zoological Journal, 12, 1880–1885. [In Russian].
Krivolutsky, D.A. (1975) Oribatelloidea. In: Gilyarov, M.S. & Krivolutsky, D.A. (Eds) A Key to the Soil-Inhabiting Mites. Sarcoptiformes. Nauka, Moscow, pp. 327–337 [In Russian].
Krivolutsky, D.A., Druk, A.Y., Eitminavičiũtė, I.S., Laskova, L.M. & Karppinen, E. (1990) Fossil Oribatid Mites. Mokslas, Vilnius, 109 pp. [In Russian].
Krivolutsky, D.A., Lebrun, P., Kunst, M., et al. (1995) Oribatid Mites. Morphology, Development, Phylogeny, Ecology, Methods of Study, Model Species Nothrus palustris C.L. Koch, 1839. Nauka, Moscow, 224 pp. [In Russian].
Labandeira, C.C., Phillips, T.L. & Norton R.A. (1997) Oribatid mites and the decomposition of plant tissues in Paleozoic coal-swamp forests. Palaios, 12(4), 319–353.
Nascimbene, P. & Silverstein, H. (2000) The preparation of fragile Cretaceous ambers for conservation and study of organismal inclusions. In: Grimaldi, D. (Ed.), Studies on Fossils in Amber, with Particular Reference to the Cretaceous of New Jersey. Backhuys Publ., Leiden, 93–102.
Norton, R.A. (2006) First record of Collohmannia (C. schusteri n. sp.) and Hermannia (H. sellnicki n. sp.) from Baltic amber, with notes on Sellnick's genera of fossil oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida). Acarologia, 46, 111–125.
Norton, R.A. & Behan-Pelletier, V.M. (1986) Systematic relationships of Propelops, with a modification of family-group taxa in Phenopelopoidea (Acari: Oribatida). Canadian Journal of Zoology, 64, 2370–2383.
Norton, R.A. & Behan-Pelletier, V.M. (2009) Suborder Oribatida. In: Krantz, G.W. and Walter, D.E. (Eds.), A Manual of Acarology. Third Edition. Lubbock, Texas: Texas Tech University Press, 430–564.
Nübel-Reidelbach, E. & Woas, S. (1992) Einige basale Arten der cepheiden und der pterogasterinen Entwicklungslinie der Höheren Oribatiden (Acari, Oribatei). Andrias, 9, 75–119.
Perkovsky, E.E., Rasnitsyn, A.P., Vlaskin, A.P. & Taraschuk, M.V. (2007) A comparative analysis of the Baltic and Rovno amber arthropod faunas: representative samples. African Invertebrates, 47, 229–245.
Petrunkevitch, A. (1955) Arachnida. In R.C. Moore (ed.). Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Part P. Arthropoda 2. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas, pp. 42–162.
Pfingstl, T. & Krisper, G. (2010) Development and morphology of Unduloribates undulatus (Berlese, 1914) (Acari: Oribatida) and some remarks on the Unduloribatidae Kunst, 1971. Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 56, 119–138.
Piffl, E. (1972) Zur Systematik der Oribatiden (Acari). Khumbu Himal, 4, 269–314.
Radford, C.D. (1950) Systematic check list of mite genera and type species. Union International Sciences, Biological Series, C 1, 1–232.
Ryabinin, N.A. & Pan'kov, A.N. (2002) Catalogue of the Oribatid Mites of the Far East of Russia. P. II. Continental Part of the Far East. Far Eastern Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok-Khabarovsk, 92 pp.
Schatz, H. (2001) The genus Eremaeozetes (Acari: Oribatida) on the Galápagos Islands. Acarologia, 41 (2000), 475–493.
Schatz, H. (2002) Mahunkaia n. gen. (Acari Oribatida Eremaeozetidae) from Africa. Tropical Zoology, 15(1), 105–120.
Sellnick, M. (1918) Die Oribatiden der Bernsteinsammlung der Universität Königsberg i. Pr. Schriften der Physikalisch-ökonomischen Gesellschaft zu Königsberg in Pr., 18, 21–42.
Sellnick, M. (1927) Rezente und fossile Oribatiden (Acar, Oribat.) 97. Sitzung am 21. Februar 1924 im Zoologischen Museum. Schriften der Physikalisch-ökonomischen Gesellschaft zu Königsberg in Pr., 65(2), 114–116.
Sellnick, M. (1931) Milben im Bernstein. Bernstein Forschungen, 2, 148–180.
Sellnick, M. (1955) Berichtigungen und Klärstellungen zu einigen meiner bisher beschriebenen Gattungen und Arten der Acari. Entomologisk Tidskrift, 76, 60–63.
Sidorchuk, E.A. & Vorontsov, D.D. (in press) Сomputer-aided drawing apparatus for the study of amber fossils. Antenna.
Sidorchuk, E.A. (in press) Preparation of six-sided micro-samples of Baltic amber for study of organismal inclusions. In: Amber mining and processing in Sambia, 12–14 May 2010. International Symposium Materials. Kaliningrad.
Subías, L.S. (2004) Listado sistemático sinonímico y biogeográfico de los ácaros oribátidos (Acariformes, Oribatida) del mundo (1758–2002). Graellsia, 60 (suppl.), 3–305.Vitzthum, H. (1931) Acari—Milben: 9. Ordnung der Arachnida In: Kükenthal W. & Krumbach T. (eds.). Handbuch der Zoologie, 3, 2, 1. De Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 1–160.
Vladimirova, N.V., Grishina, L.G. & Sleptsova, E.V. (2008) Moss mites (Sarcoptiformes, Oribatei) of the North-Eastern Altai In: Problems of science and education in pedagogic institutes. Materials of the Russian conference. Novosibirsk, 5, pp. 44–48.
Woodring, J.P. & Cook, E.F. (1962) The internal anatomy, reproductive physiology, and molting process of Ceratozetes cisalpinus (Acarina, Oribatei). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 55, 164–181.