Distribution and population characteristics of the soil mites Diapterobates notatus and Svalbardia paludicola (Acari: Oribatida: Ceratozetidae) in High Arctic Svalbard (Norway)

Abstract

dispersal by the wind. Adult body size was found to be greatest in the floristically diverse Arctic meadows. Svalbardia paludicola was particularly abundant in the Arctic meadow at Reinsdyrflya where juveniles were more plentiful than the adults. The nymphs of this species have shorter gastronotal setae than those of D. notatus which may limit their passive transport by the wind. Scutozetes clavatosensillus Ermilov, Martens & Tolstikov, 2013 was found in Mosselbukta (north Spitsbergen); this is the first observation of this species in Svalbard.

Temperature (latitude) and nutrient (seabird guano) effects on limno-terrestrial Tardigrada (Testechiniscus spitsbergensisandPilatobius recamieri) body size

“…Until now, little attention has been given to the comparative morphometry of microscopic limno-terrestrial invertebrates living at different latitudes, especially in polar regions. While a number of recent papers have been devoted to body size in Arctic marine or freshwater invertebrates (e.g., Węsławski et al 2006;Trudnowska et al 2014;Grzelak et al 2016;Kolicka et al 2016;Hirst et al 2017), the issue remains neglected in polar limno-terrestrial microinvertebrates, with only a handful of studies performed in the Antarctic or Arctic (e.g., Jennings 1976;Zawierucha et al 2015;Seniczak et al 2017).…”

Diversity and Distribution of Mites (Acari: Ixodida, Mesostigmata, Trombidiformes, Sarcoptiformes) in the Svalbard Archipelago

“…Studies conducted during the past 20 years have also added 16 species of Mesostigmata [8,18,20,27,28,30,85,92,93,95,98,166] and 36 species of Sarcoptiformes to the Svalbard fauna [8][9][10]67,71,72,74,146,167]. This indicates that despite the relatively long history of mite studies for a region in the Arctic, our knowledge remains surprisingly poor.…”