Carabodidae

• Main Author: Mahunka, S.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1986
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Arthropoda; Arachnida; Sarcoptiformes; Carabodidae; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/5777715; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5777715

[The Family Carabodidae] The species belonging to the family Carabodidae have the most strongly chitinized body among the Oribatida with a highly varied sculpture by which they are readily distinguishable. The taxa belonging here are spead all over the continents, excepting the Antarctica, many genera are treated as cosmopolites. The great majority of the species live in litter, in decaying wood, only a small number of the species live in moss and in matted grass. The family was long since separated from the other groups by C. L. Koch (1836), and this fairly coherent group was rarely enriched by new genera, while those genera which proved to belong to other taxa, or were found to be synonyms (Berlese 1913, Trägardh 1931, Willmann 1936) were transferred. However, owing to recent explorations, the number of new genera suddenly increased, the diagnoses of which occasionally presented some difficulty when evaluating the supraspecific categories, leaving the researcher sometimes at loss, consequently, now it is inevitable to make a survey or a partial revision of the group. Thus, besides giving some highly needed redescriptions, I attempt to summarize on the bases of the literature, and partly on the investigated material and the type material that knowledge that definitely refer to the family. Previously to my investigations the family included 35 genera (as nomen), among them, however, Neocepheus Willmann, 1936, according to our present State of knowledge, is unequivocally a synonym of Carabodes C. L. Koch, 1836 (Balogh 1961), furthermore, two such genera are treated here momentarily (Podopterotegaeus Aoki, 1969 and Cerocepheus Trägardh, 1931) which, without even detailed examination, have no close relationship with the other genera. According to my opinion the genus Podopterotegaeus should be transferred to the superfamily Polypterozetoidea Grandjean, 1959, and there provisorily in the family Polypterozetidae, although, a relationship with the families Eutegaeidae Balogh, 1965 or Cepheidae Berlese, 1896 might also ...