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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]

The first detailed description of adults of Achipteria setulosa Golosova, 1981 with illustrations are provided, based on materials from central Japan. This species is placed in the subgenus Achipteria (Izuachipteria) Balogh & Mahunka, 1979. In addition, the species grouping of the known species in the genus Achipteria is briefly discussed, and three species-groups are proposed based on the structure of the lamellar complex. Furthermore, data on distribution, diversity and habitat ecology of all known species of Achipteriidae in Japan are presented, and a key is provided for the identification of recorded species in this country. The majority of achipteriid species found in Japan are known to be widely distributed in the vast areas of the northern hemisphere; only two species have restricted distributions in Japan. Most species of Achipteriidae in Japan are inhabitants of the litter of various forests, such as natural broad-leaved forests in high mountainous areas, soils of grasslands, wetlands and mosses growing on rocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to better understand the distribution patterns of terrestrial eukaryotic microbes and the factors governing them, we studied the diversity partitioning of soil testate amoebae across levels of spatially nested habitat hierarchy in the largest European old-growth dark coniferous forest (Pechora-Ilych Biosphere Reserve; Komi Republic, Russia). The variation in testate amoeba species richness and assemblage structure was analysed in 87 samples from six biotopes in six vegetation types using an additive partitioning procedure and principal component analyses. The 80 taxa recorded represent the highest value of species richness for soil testate amoebae reported for taiga soils so far. Our results indicate that testate amoeba assemblages were highly aggregated at all levels and were mostly controlled by environmental factors rather than dispersal processes. The variation in species diversity of testate amoebae increased from the lowest to the highest hierarchical level. We conclude that, similarly to macroscopic organisms, testate amoeba species richness and community structure are primarily controlled by environmental conditions within the landscape and suggest that metacommunity dynamics of free-living microorganisms are driven by species sorting and/or mass effect processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]