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We found four species of oribatid mites belonging to family Oppiidae from Babeldaob Island of Palau Republic, which is an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean. Two new species, Anomaloppia babeldaobensissp. nov. and Oxyoppia palauensissp. nov. are described from litter and soil in a secondary forest of Palau, and supplementary descriptions of two hitherto known species, Arcoppia corniculifera (Mahunka 1978) and Arcoppia hammeraeRodríguez & Subías, 1984 are provided, which are reported for the first time from the Oceania region. Following the descriptions and comparisons, aspects of the taxonomy, distribution and habitat ecology of studied species are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We found four species of oribatid mites belonging to the genus Protoribates from Babeldaob Island of Palau Republic, which is an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean. A new species, Protoribates lutosisetosussp. nov. is described from litter and soil of the primary and secondary forests in Palau, and supplementary descriptions of three hitherto known species, Protoribates acutus, Protoribates paracapucinus, and Protoribates seminudus are provided. Following the descriptions and comparisons, aspects of the taxonomy, distribution, and habitat ecology of all studied species are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical forest canopies are home to an extremely high diversity of arthropods, but their diversity, abundance, and community structures remain incomplete. Three species of oribatid mites from the crown leaves petioles of Light Red Meranti (Shorea quadrinervis Sloot), a tree species that is endemic to Borneo Island, are reported in the present study. A new species of Birobates (Oripodidae) is proposed, with a diagnostic key to adults of all known species of the genus worldwide. Dometorina plantivaga (Berlese, 1895) (Scheloribatidae) and Paralamellobates misella (Berlese, 1910) (Punctoribatidae) are reported for the first time from Borneo, and supplementary descriptions of those species are provided. Aspects of the distribution and habitat ecology of each species reported are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We found two species of oribatid mites from Babeldaob Island of Palau Republic, which is an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean. Eurhynchoribates brevisensillatus sp. nov. is proposed from mosses growing in the forest, and a diagnostic key to adults of all known species of Eurhynchoribates is provided. Another species, Basilobelba foliata Hammer, 1982 is reported for the first time from Palau, which was known previously from island of Bali, Indonesia. Following the descriptions and comparisons, we discuss aspects of the diversity, distribution and habitat ecology of species belonging to each genus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elevation gradients have been useful to study distributional patterns of soil organisms since the time of Humboldt but only recently these patterns have been studied for soil microorganisms. Here we report the results on species diversity and composition of soil- and moss-dwelling testate amoeba assemblages along a 1400 m elevation gradient (904–2377 m a.s.l.) on Mount Fuji (Japan) from temperate forest to alpine vegetation. In total, 95 testate amoeba taxa belonging to 29 genera were identified. The core of testate amoeba assemblages was formed by ubiquitous species such as Trinema lineare , Euglypha laevis , Cryptodifflugia oviformis , and Trinema complanatum. However, several taxa with limited geographic distribution were also observed (e.g., Centropyxis latideflandriana , C. stenodeflandriana , Plagiopyxis cf. barrosi , Heleopera rectangularis , and Distomatopyxis couillardi). Species diversity indices (species richness and Shannon's index) were characterised by bell-shaped patterns peaking at ∼ 1700 m in the subalpine mixed conifer-deciduous forest. The species composition of testate amoeba assemblages was best explained by the vegetation types which accounted for 12.3% of the total variation. Overall, these findings indicate that elevation effects on species composition of testate amoeba assemblages are strongly mediated by vegetation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]