Discovering and documenting Acari: the first twenty years in Zootaxa.

Acari represent the most diverse group within the arachnids with some 60,000 described species. It is generally believed that most species of mites are waiting to be discovered and described. Zootaxa was the most important journal for mite taxonomy during the last twenty years (2001 to 2020). It published 1305 papers by 1057 authors during these two decades, with descriptions of 3271 new taxa/names, which account for 24.4% of the total indexed in Zoological Record. The numbers of new synonyms of Acari in Zootaxa (334) also accounted for nearly a quarter (24.9%) of the total published during this period. These data indicate that Zootaxa has been an important and leading journal for acarologists to document the diversity of mites and ticks in the world.

Oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatida) from Parco Naturale delle Alpi Marittime (Piedmont, Italy).

Oribatid mites were investigated in six sites in the Alpi Marittime Natural Park (Prov. Cuneo, Piedmont, northern Italy) which is part of the NATURA 2000 network. The selected locations cover 4 forested (fir, ash, 2 beech forests) and 2 grassland sites (mountain meadow, xeric grassland). Altogether 173 described oribatid species belonging to 51 families were encountered, complemented by one undetermined species (Scheloribates (Topobates) cf. carpathicus), added together 174 species. Among them 11 species are new records for Italy. A comparison with other Italian alpine provinces shows high similarity of the oribatid species composition from the investigated sites with the provinces of Bolzano, Trento, Sondrio. A total of 37 species from the Marittime Alps has also been recorded in the southern part of the nearby Swiss canton Ticino. The majority of the species in the investigated sites are known as silvicolous; xerophilous species were mainly found in the xeric grassland site at lower altitude. High species similarities are observed between the forested sites, which also show high species numbers (up to 96 spp. found in the fir forest), lowest similarities are found between the open grassland sites and the forested sites, as well as between the grassland sites themselves.

Catalogue of oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) from Vorarlberg (Austria).

A checklist of the oribatid mites from Vorarlberg (Austria) which covers all published records and hitherto unpublished results of additional collecting is presented. Several species are revised, doubtful and erroneous records from previous publications are discussed and corrected. At present a total of 327 described species are known from Vorarlberg, complemented by three subspecific taxa and two undetermined or undescribed species, altogether from 61 families. A total of 96 species (including 3 subspecific taxa) are newly reported from Vorarlberg, among them 16 species are new records for Austria. The compilation includes the occurrence of each species in different vegetation units and habitats of Vorarlberg, their known distribution in Austria and the neighbouring Alps, Switzerland and Southern Germany, as well as their general distribution. Occasional additional remarks give taxonomic and other information. A historical overview of the exploration of the oribatid mites in Vorarlberg is outlined. The general distribution of the oribatid mite fauna of Vorarlberg is analysed. Remarkable results are, among others, the findings of some mostly rare species which were described by Schweizer and Mahunka Mahunka-Papp from Switzerland as well as species restricted to the Alps, mainly in higher montane regions.

Catalogue of oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) from South Tyrol (Prov. Bolzano, Italy).

A checklist of the oribatid mites reported in South Tyrol (Italy) is presented, covering all published records until 2017. Numerous unpublished records are added. Several species were revised, doubtful and erroneous records from previous publications are discussed and corrected if necessary. A total of 397 described species in 71 families are listed, complemented by two subspecies and 15 undetermined or undescribed species. The list includes all records of each species in South Tyrol, their known distribution in the Italian Alps sorted to provinces, the distribution in Italy, occurrence in the neighbouring countries Austria and Switzerland, and their general distribution. Occasional additional remarks give taxonomic information. A historical overview of the exploration of the oribatid mites in South Tyrol is outlined. The general distribution of the oribatid mite fauna of South Tyrol is analysed. Beside species with a wide distribution the region includes many "Mediterranean" species, species with their main distribution in Central Europe, and species restricted to the Alps, the latter mainly in higher mountainous regions.

A checklist of the oribatid mite species (Acari: Oribatida) of Brazil.

A checklist of the oribatid mite species reported in Brazil is presented, including all published records up to 2015. A total of 576 described species in 206 genera and 83 families is presented. Information includes the names by which each species was reported in the Brazilian literature, its general known distribution and by Brazilian States, references, and remarks, when needed. As with most countries, there was a slow early accumulation of knowledge but in recent decades the pace of description has been relatively high. A graphical overview of the number of described oribatid mite species from Brazil in different decades is given. The proportion contributed by each of the major oribatid groups is generally similar to that of the overall world fauna, with a composition that reflects the South American fauna and all of the Neotropics in general. There is a relatively low percentage of primitive mites (Palaeosomata, Enarthronota) other than Lohmanniidae and Mesoplophoridae, which are quite diverse. The Brachypylina comprises about 68% of the oribatid mite fauna. In the checklist, 41% of the species are known only from Brazil, 37% from the Neotropical region, 13.5% have a wider distribution in the global tropical and subtropical regions, and 8.5% are considered cosmopolitan or semicosmopolitan species. The number of descriptions of new species since 2000 from Brazil (73 spp.) and South America (230) is high, but the oribatid mite fauna of these countries remains poorly known. Only continued studies can determine if the high number of species known only from Brazil is an indication of high endemism.

New littoral mite species (Acari, Oribatida, Fortuyniidae) from the Galápagos archipelago, with ecological and zoogeographical considerations.

Two species of Fortuyniidae, found on the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador) are described and illustrated based on the adult and juvenile instars. Alismobates galapagoensis sp. nov. was found on six islands of the archipelago, in littoral and supralittoral habitats. It is morphologically similar to A. inexpectatus Pfingstl & Schuster, 2012 from Bermuda, but differs from that species and all other known congeners by a prominent cuticular ridge on epimeron III among other unique character combinations. Litoribates caelestis gen. and sp. nov. was found on the islands Santa Cruz and Bartolomé in the littoral zone under Maytenus and mangroves. Notes on distribution and ecological preferences of both species are included.

Redescription of Coronoquadroppia monstruosa (Hammer, 1979) (Acari, Oribatida, Quadroppiidae) from Java and variability of the species in Europe.

A main goal of this study was the comparison of type material of Coronoquadroppia monstruosa (Hammer, 1979) from Java with European populations which were supposed by authors to be conspecific. The species identity of most respective European findings with a type specimen can be confirmed. Yet within some populations from Germany, Austria and northern Italy, specimens with morphological variations are present, resembling partly C. gumista (Gordeeva et Tarba, 1990) from the Caucasus in regard of a transversal band in the rostral structure. This and other described modifications are supposed to be individual variability within the species C. monstruosa. A detailed morphological analysis is presented, resulting in the division of the Quadroppia complex into the genera Quadroppia and Coronoquadroppia as first proposed by Ohkubo (1995).

Oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatida) from riverine environments of some islands in Oceania.

A checklist of identified oribatid mite taxa from riverine freshwater environments from six islands in Polynesia (New Caledonia, Tahiti, Moorea, Rurutu, Tubuai, Raiatea) is presented; 18 species, 16 genera and eight families were recorded. Trhypochthoniellus longisetus (Berlese, 1904) and Trimalaconothrus albulus Hammer, 1972 prevailed on distribution. Fortuynia smiti sp. n. (Fortuyniidae) is described from New Caledonia. The new speciesis morphologically most similar to Fortuynia marina Hammen, 1960 from New Guinea, but it differs from the latter by the longer notogastral setae dm, lm, c 2, p 1, epimeral setae 3b and adanal setae ad 1 and the presence of prodorsal lateral ridges.

Nomenclatural and taxonomic problems related to the electronic publication of new nomina and nomenclatural acts in zoology, with brief comments on optical discs and on the situation in botany.

In zoological nomenclature, to be potentially valid, nomenclatural novelties (i.e., new nomina and nomenclatural acts) need first to be made available, that is, published in works qualifying as publications as defined by the International Code of zoological Nomenclature ("the Code"). In September 2012, the Code was amended in order to allow the recognition of works electronically published online after 2011 as publications available for the purpose of zoological nomenclature, provided they meet several conditions, notably a preregistration of the work in ZooBank. Despite these new Rules, several of the long-discussed problems concerning the electronic publication of new nomina and nomenclatural acts have not been resolved. The publication of this amendment provides an opportunity to discuss some of these in detail. It is important to note that: (1) all works published only online before 2012 are nomenclaturally unavailable; (2) printed copies of the PDFs of works which do not have their own ISSN or ISBN, and which are not obtainable free of charge or by purchase, do not qualify as publications but must be seen as facsimiles of unavailable works and are unable to provide nomenclatural availability to any nomenclatural novelties they may contain; (3) prepublications online of later released online publications are unavailable, i.e., they do not advance the date of publication; (4) the publication dates of works for which online prepublications had been released are not those of these prepublications and it is critical that the real release date of such works appear on the actual final electronic publication, but this is not currently the case in electronic periodicals that distribute such online prepublications and which still indicate on their websites and PDFs the date of release of prepublication as that of publication of the work; (5) supplementary online materials and subsequent formal corrections of either paper or electronic publications distributed only online are nomenclaturally unavailable; (6) nomenclatural information provided on online websites that do not have a fixed content and format, with ISSN or ISBN, is unavailable. We give precise examples of many of these nomenclatural problems. Several of them, when they arise, are due to the fact that the availability of nomenclatural novelties now depends on information that will have to be sought not from the work itself but from extrinsic evidence. As shown by several examples discussed here, an electronic document can be modified while keeping the same DOI and publication date, which is not compatible with the requirements of zoological nomenclature. Therefore, another system of registration of electronic documents as permanent and inalterable will have to be devised. ZooBank also clearly needs to be improved in several respects. Mention in a work of its registration number (LSID) in ZooBank would seem to be possible only if this registration has occurred previously, but some works that have purportedly been registered in ZooBank are in fact missing on this web application. In conclusion, we offer recommendations to authors, referees, editors, publishers, libraries and the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, in the hope that such problems can be limited along with the potential chaos in zoological nomenclature that could result, if careful attention is not paid to the problems we highlight here, from a somewhat misplaced, and perhaps now widespread, understanding that electronic publication of nomenclatural novelties is now allowed and straightforward. We suggest that, as long as the problematic points linked to the new amendment and to electronic publication as a whole are not resolved, nomenclatural novelties continue to be published in paper-printed journals that have so far shown editorial competence regarding taxonomy and nomenclature, which is not the case of several recent electronic-only published journals.

Biodiversity of oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) along an altitudinal gradient in the Central Alps.

Oribatid mite communities were studied in the Central Alps (Obergurgl, Tyrol, Austria). Samples were taken on four sites along an altitudinal gradient from 2050 m a.s.l to 2900 m a.s.l., in different vegetation units (pine forest, Nardetum, Caricetum, Androsacetum). A total of 86 species were found, most of them occurred only at one altitude, four species were found in all four study sites. Three taxa could not be ascribed to a certain species (Carabodes sp. Mycobates sp., Tectocepheus sp.). Species richness and density of oribatid mites decrease with increasing altitude. The results are compared with previous studies in the same region and show remarkable shifts in species composition.

Community structure, trophic position and reproductive mode of soil and bark-living oribatid mites in an alpine grassland ecosystem.

The community structure, stable isotope ratios ((15)N/(14)N, (13)C/(12)C) and reproductive mode of oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatida) were investigated in four habitats (upper tree bark, lower tree bark, dry grassland soil, forest soil) at two sites in the Central Alps (Tyrol, Austria). We hypothesized that community structure and trophic position of oribatid mites of dry grassland soils and bark of trees are similar since these habitats have similar abiotic characteristics (open, dry) compared with forest soil. Further, we hypothesized that derived taxa of oribatid mites reproducing sexually dominate on the bark of trees since species in this habitat consume living resources such as lichens. In contrast to our hypothesis, the community structure of oribatid mites differed among grassland, forest and bark indicating the existence of niche differentiation in the respective oribatid mite species. In agreement with our hypothesis, sexually reproducing taxa of oribatid mites dominated on the bark of trees whereas parthenogenetic species were more frequent in soil. Several species of bark-living oribatid mites had stable isotope signatures that were similar to lichens indicating that they feed on lichens. However, nine species that frequently occurred on tree bark did not feed on lichens according to their stable isotope signatures. No oribatid mite species could be ascribed to moss feeding. We conclude that sexual reproduction served as preadaptation for oribatid mites allowing them to exploit new habitats and new resources on the bark of trees. Abiotic factors likely are of limited importance for bark-living oribatid mites since harsh abiotic conditions are assumed to favor parthenogenesis.