Oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatida) inhabiting termite nests in the Faan Meintjes Nature Reserve (South Africa)

Abstract

The present study is based on oribatid mite material (Acari, Oribatida) collected from nests of the termite Trinervitermes trinervoides (Sjöstedt, 1911) (Isoptera, Termitidae) of the Faan Meintjes Nature Reserve in South Africa. A list of identified taxa, including nine species, eight genera and seven families, is presented. One new species is described; Saltatrichus louiseae sp. nov. (Zetomotrichidae) differs from all species of the genus by the long, thick interlamellar setae and setiform setae ft” on leg tarsi IV. Bipassalozetes bidactylus (Coggi, 1900) is recorded in the fauna of South Africa for the first time. The five species with the highest abundance and occurrence in nests were Coetzeella navalensis Ermilov, Hugo-Coetzee & Khaustov, 2017, B. bidactylus, S. louiseae sp. nov., Ausoribula bloemfonteinensis Ermilov, Hugo-Coetzee & Khaustov, 2017 and Transoribates agricola (Nakamura & Aoki, 1989). Remarks on variations of B. bidactylus and C. navalensis are given