As important representatives of Oribatida (Acari), ptyctimous mites comprise more than 1400 described species in 40 genera and subgenera, with nearly cosmopolitan distribution except for the Arctic and Antarctic Regions. They are capable of folding the aspidosoma under the opisthosoma to protect their appendages, and are primarily soil and litter inhabitants, feeding on fungi and decaying plant remains with various levels of specificity. Our purpose was to provide a detailed catalogue of all known ptyctimous mite species in the world with information of distribution, taxonomic issues and some remarks. Data of known juvenile  instars of ptyctimous mites which were not included in Norton Ermilov (2014) were added. We hope that our catalogue with bibliography will be helpful in taxonomic and ecological studies.        The catalogue presents taxonomic information and geographic distribution of 1431 known species of the world belonging to 42 genera and eight families (not including data of genus and species inquirenda, nomina nuda and species without author name). Among them, 261 species are listed as synonyms, 43 species inquirenda, nine homonyms, 17 new synonyms, one new subgenus Mahuntritia subgenus nov. and three new names are included in the catalogue.

Oribotritia contortula n. sp., O.

We studied ptyctimous moss mites, which are characteristic of forest habitats, in Norwegian broadleaf forests considered as biodiversity hotspot areas in Fennoscandia. The study aimed to evaluate the effect of different factors (regional locality, annual precipitation, mean annual temperature, forest type, forest wetness and microhabitat) on the ptyctimous mites and on discovering their richness in broadleaf forests. Samples were collected from nine broadleaf forests in Western, Southern and Eastern Norway, in different climatic conditions, six forest types, three forest wetness states and eight microhabitats. Overall, 3341 ptyctimous mites were collected and their abundance differed significantly among the regions, forest types and microhabitats. Forest type turned out to be the most important factor, responsible for 24.5% of the total variation in the abundance of the ptyctimous mites. Other important factors were forest wetness and microhabitat. In total, 27 species, i.e., 87% of all ptyctimous mites known from before in Norway were found and the species richness was highest in the east and lowest in the west of the country. Atropacarus (Atropacarus) striculus was most common and most abundant; it made nearly 30% of all ptyctimous mites collected. On the other hand, a quarter of the species were represented by less than 10 specimens; most of these were new records for Norway. Among ten species discovered as new to Norway, four were also new to Fennoscandia. These findings confirm the unique character and high biological diversity of Norwegian broadleaf forests.

New records of the ptyctimous mites from the Nearctic Region are given. The new material includes 27 species of ptyctimous mites. The geographical distributions of seven species are more extensive than previously known.

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In the material recently collected in Madeira, 16 species of ptyctimous mites have been found. A new species of Austrophthiracarus rabacalensis Niedbała sp. nov. has been described. The presence of P. globosus and S. (R.) ortizi, reported earlier from Madeira has not been confirmed, but P. anonymus and P. montanus, so far not reported from this island, have been found. All 16 species identified in the material from Madeira studied occur in the Palaearctic Region; four of them are endemites, seven occur in western Palaearctic, four are panpalaearctic, while one is a semicosmopolitan. Morphological analysis has revealed a high similarity of two endemic species of Madeira with two European species: Steganacarus (Steganacarus) crassisetosus is similar to Steganacarus (Steganacarus) applicatus, while Steganacarus (Steganacarus) similis to Steganacarus (Steganacarus) spinosus. DNA-barcode analysis using COI and D2 28S rDNA sequences confirmed the species status of these four species. The phylogenetic analyses of COI amino acid data and D2 28S rDNA sequences suggest a closer relationship between S. (S.) crassisetosus and S. (S.) applicatus, pointing to a great genetic distance between S. (S.) spinosus and the other species of Steganacarus (Steganacarus).

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