ON THE GENUS TOTOBATES HAMMER 1961 (Acarina: Oribatidae)

• Main Author: A. Wallwork
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1964
• Subjects: Antarctic; Bell Island; Camp Bell; Campbell Island; Tuxen; Antarc*; antarcticus; Macquarie Island
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.484.8583; http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/pi/pdf/6(4)-741.pdf

Abstract: A description is given of Totobates elegans (Hammer) ssp. antarcticus n. ssp. from Campbell Island. The genus Totobates is defined and its systematic position is dis-cussed. It is concluded that the genus belongs in the family Haplozetidae and is related to the genera Tuxen ia Ham., Maculobates Ham. and Prot on'bat es Berlese. In her surveys of the oribatid fauna of the Andes Mountains, Hammer (1958, 1961, 1962a & 1962b) has given the name Totobates to a group of new species. The genus has not been defined satisfactorily and its affinities are uncertain. Balogh (1961) includes it provisionally in the Oribatulidae with the status of a genus inquirendum. The genus is present in the sub-Antarctic region and has been recorded previously from Macquarie Island. It has also been identified from collections taken at Beeman Hill, Camp-bell Island, where it is represented by a species differing in only a few minor respects from T. elegans (Hammer). These differences are perhaps sufficient to warrant the erection of a new subspecies, and the Campbell Island specimens are described below under the name T. elegans ssp. antarcticus n. ssp. These specimens form the basis for the present study which is designed to clarify the systematic position of the genus. In order to do this it