The Rhagidiidae (Acari: Prostigmata) in NW Lapland: Could their assemblages be climate warming monitors related to environmental and habitat patterns?

• Published in: Pedobiologia
• Main Authors: Zacharda, M. (Miloslav), Kučera, T. (Tomáš)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Lapland; Acari; Rhagidiidae; Monitor; Climate warming; Fennoscandia; Fennoscandian; Tundra
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedobi.2010.07.004; http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0195010

Fifteen species of Palearctic and Holarctic Rhagidiidae inhabit the polar Fennoscandian mountain birch forest and tundra, but additional taxa are expected to be discovered. Their assemblages comprise 5–10 species. Of these, Rhagidia gigas, R. diversicolor and Poecilophysis pratensis are the most abundant and widely distributed in the forested subalpine (480–600 m a.s.l.) and transitional (500–650 m a.s.l.) altitudinal zones while Poecilophysis pseudoreflexa and Rhagidia longiseta are found in the low-(600–800 m a.s.l.) and mid-(800–960 m a.s.l.), and Rhagidia parvilobata in the high alpine (960–1025 m a.s.l.) zones. Ten species of the rhagidiid mites are common in the Fennoscandian tundra as well as the alpine tundra of the Ötztal Alps, North Tyrol. Patterns of richness and diversity in this group of mites are different in different altitudinal zones in NW Lapland and the Ötztal Alps. In contrast to the Alps, no endemic species were detected in Fennoscandia.