Trichogalumna (Trichogalumna) nipponica (Aoki, 1966)

Revelo-Tobar, Harol, 2022, Checklist of Oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) of Ecuador, Zootaxa 5210 (1), pp. 1-96 : 88-90

Trichogalumna (Trichogalumna) nipponica (Aoki, 1966)

Trichogalumna nipponica: Ermilov et al. (2013) ; Ermilov (2019b).

Distribution: Semicosmopolitan.

Records in Ecuador: Azuay (Chirimachay, río Matadero ) and Napo (El Chaco) and Zamora Chinchipe ( San Francisco Biological Reserve and Podocarpus National Park-Bombuscaro) .

Habitat: Sweep and drift net sample and upper organic soil layer in mostly undisturbed rain forest.

References: Ermilov et al. (2013): 269; Ermilov (2019b): 360.

General remarks

The checklist of oribatid mites of continental Ecuador reports 479 species (86 of these have not been definitely determined) belonging to 232 genera, 89 families, 36 superfamilies and six infraorders; 37% of the records were originally described as new species from the country. 74% of the species belong to the infraorder Brachypylina , an expected proportion of the most diverse group of Oribatida ( Norton & Behan-Pelletier 2009) . The superfamilies Oppioidea (15.4%) Oripodoidea (13.6%), Crotonioidea (7.3%), Phthiracaroidea (6.9%), Trizetoidea (7.7%), Galumnoidea (6.3%), Euphthiracaroidea (5.8%), Microzetoidea (4.7%), Hypochthonioidea (4.2%) and Ameroidea (4%) contained 74.5% of the records. The families with the highest number of species were Oppiidae (54), Phthiracaridae (33), Suctobelbidae (32), Galumnidae (29), Scheloribatidae (27), Microzetidae (21), Euphthiracaridae (19) and Haplozetidae (16), a similar pattern has been reported in checklists from Brazil by Oliveira et al. (2017), from Colombia by Salazar-Fillipo & Miko (2022) and other countries in the Neotropical region.

Records were made in 15 of the 24 provinces of the continental territory of Ecuador, in the Oriente region, which has the largest territorial area of the country (115.613 km 2) 272 species are recorded, followed by the Sierra with 251, insular region (Galápagos) 163 and Costa with 19 species; Indotritia (Indotritia) bellingeri and Acrotritia clavata are the only species distributed in the four regions. The provinces with the highest number of species reported were: Zamora Chinchipe (233), Galápagos (163), Loja (139), Cotopaxi (44), Pichincha (39) and Napo (27) ( Fig. 1 ). In the four regions of Ecuador, a total of 479 species are counted; this number now places Ecuador as having the second highest number of oribatid mites recorded in Latin America, only surpassed by Brazil (576) ( Oliveira et al. 2017). Although Mexico ranks third according to the checklist of Palacios-Vargas & Iglesias (2004) with 434 species, this number could be surpassed thanks to multiple investigations carried out in recent years ( Bernal et al. 2009; Ojeda et al. 2020; Ojeda y Gasca-Pineda 2019; Palacios-Vargas et al. 2011; Vázquez et al. 2016; Villagomez et al. 2019; Villagomez y Palacios-Vargas 2017).

23.6% of the species listed in this checklist, have been reported only in continental Ecuador, demonstrating a high percentage of endemism, such is the case of Tubulozetes rostratus (Tubulozetidae) which represents an endemic family of the country. Another 47.8% of the species are recorded in several countries of the Neotropical region, the rest are pantropical (17.6%), semicosmopolitan (7.9%) and cosmopolitan (3.1%) ( Fig. 2 ). The diversity of oribatid mites from continental Ecuador, shows certain similarities with that of other South American countries, Brazil has 23.9% of species in common ( Oliveira et al. 2017), most of these have been collected in the Amazonian territories of Ecuador, Brazil and Peru, with which it has 7.6% of species in common ( Beck 1963; Franklin et al. 2006) ( Table 1 ).

Sampling has been carried out in all the natural regions of continental Ecuador, however, the percentage of national territory studied is minimal, such is the case of the Costa region where samples have only been collected in four points in the province of Esmeraldas and one in El Oro. A similar situation occurs in the Oriente region , where most studies have been carried out in the province of Zamora Chinchipe and Napo. Moreover in the Amazon, one of the most diverse regions in the world, only one study has been carried out ( Fig. 3 ) ( Ermilov 2019b). Although Ecuador is a country with a small territory (256.370 km 2) compared to its neighboring countries, it has a considerable diversity of ecosystems with contrasting edaphoclimatic conditions, allowing us to theorize that the biodiversity of oribatid mites is equally contrasting and rich. All of the works reviewed for the writing of this checklist have been carried out by specialists from the United States, Europe and Asia; however, to the authors’ knowledge, there is no specialist in Ecuadorian territory yet who is studying the diversity of this fascinating and important group. In spite of the great research effort made, the diversity of oribatids in our region is little known, so I hope to motivate many researchers to join this arduous task .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Number of species of oribatid mites found in different provinces of Ecuador.

FIGURE 2. Known distribution of species reported in Ecuador

FIGURE 3. Distribution of sampling sites in the natural regions of Ecuador.

Tables

TABLE 1. Species in common with other South American countries.

Country	Number of records	Species common with Ecuador and similarity of the faunas		Source
Ecuador	485	-	100%	-
Colombia	68	32	6.6%	( Salazar-Fillipo & Miko, 2022)
Brazil	576	116	23.9%	( Oliveira et al., 2017)
Argentina	398	73	15.1%	( Fredes, 2019)
Peru	246	37	7.6%	( Beck, 1963; Franklin et al., 2006)