Abstract
Three European taxa of the Trhypochthonius-tectorum complex are differentiated and described: Trhypochthonius tectorum (Berlese) s. str., T. silvestris europaeus n. subsp. and T. japonicus n. forma occidentalis. These taxa are compared with T. americanus (Ewing), T. silvestris Jacot and T. japonicus Aoki. Because of the high similarity among these species, a biometrical analysis is performed which confirmed three species groups with disjunct distributions: Trhypochthonius tectorum in Europe with T. tectorum americanus (n. comb.) in North America, T. silvestris in North America with T. s. europaeus n. subsp. in Europe, T. japonicus in Japan with T. japonicus n. forma occidentalis in Europe. The relationships of further Palaearctic species of this complex are discussed and we propose taxonomical changes: Trhypochthonius tectorum fujinitaensis Fujikawa (n. comb.) and T. t. stercus Fujikawa (n. comb.); T. silvestris misumaiensis Fujikawa (n. comb.) and T. s. septentrionalis Fujikawa (n. comb.). The disjunct biogeographical distribution of the members of the three species leads to the assumption of a relative high geological age of the parthenogenetic species-complex of “T. tectorum s. lat.”. A key for the Central European species of Trhypochthonius is presented.References
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