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

Abstract

Svalbard is a singular region to study biodiversity. Located at a high latitude and geographically isolated, the archipelago possesses widely varying environmental conditions and unique flora and fauna communities. It is also here where particularly rapid environmental changes are occurring, having amongst the fastest increases in mean air temperature in the Arctic. One of the most common and species-rich invertebrate groups in Svalbard is the mites (Acari). We here describe the characteristics of the Svalbard acarofauna, and, as a baseline, an updated inventory of 178 species (one Ixodida, 36 Mesostigmata, 43 Trombidiformes, and 98 Sarcoptiformes) along with their occurrences. In contrast to the Trombidiformes and Sarcoptiformes, which are dominated in Svalbard by species with wide geographical distributions, the Mesostigmata include many Arctic species (39%); it would thus be an interesting future study to determine if mesostigmatid communities are more affected by global warming then other mite groups. A large number of new species (42 spp.) have been described from Svalbard, including 15 that have so far been found exclusively there. It is yet uncertain if any of these latter species are endemic: six are recent findings, the others are old records and, in most cases, impossible to verify. That the Arctic is still insufficiently sampled also limits conclusions concerning endemicity.

Inclusion of juvenile stages improves diversity assessment and adds to our understanding of mite ecology – A case study from mires in Norway

“…Oribatid mites can live in different parts of Sphagnum : on drier apical parts; in more basal parts; or in the spaces between Sphagnum leaves. Oribatida are closely dependent on microhabitat conditions, most notably the moisture level (Lehmitz et al, 2020 ) or the genus of Sphagnum present (Minor et al, 2016 ; Seniczak, Seniczak, Iturrondobeitia, et al, 2020 ; Seniczak, Seniczak, Schwarzfeld, et al, 2020 ), but also water chemistry (Seniczak et al, 2022 ). Therefore, any changes in peatlands, either due to climate change or human activities that affect water level or water chemistry, have strong impacts on the oribatid communities (Lehmitz et al, 2020 ; Markkula 1981 , 1982 ; Seniczak et al, 2016 ; Seniczak et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Full names of the mites are given in Table 2 and Appendix S1, while in the figures, abbreviations are used. The new records of Mesostigmata for Norway refer to the most recent checklist (Gwiazdowicz & Gulvik, 2005a) and later references (Bolger, Devlin, & Seniczak, 2018; Castilho et al, 2015; Gwiazdowicz et al, 2013; Gwiazdowicz & Gulvik, 2005b, 2007; Kaczmarek et al, 2021; Kvifte et al, 2022; Neves Esteca et al, 2020; Seniczak, Bolger, Roth, et al, 2019; Seniczak, Niedbała, Iturrondobeitia, et al, 2021; Seniczak, Seniczak, Graczyk, et al, 2021; Seniczak, Seniczak, Iturrondobeitia, et al, 2020; Seniczak, Seniczak, Schwarzfeld, et al, 2020; Seniczak, Seniczak, Starý, et al, 2021; Słomian et al, 2005; Thunes et al, 2021; Venancio et al, 2016) while those of Trombidiformes are based on the checklist of Mehl (1979) and Stålstedt et al (2019). The new records of Sarcoptiformes for Norway are based on the checklists of Mehl (1979) and Seniczak, Seniczak, Iturrondobeitia, et al (2020); Seniczak, Seniczak, Schwarzfeld, et al (2020).…”

Metabarcoding Inventory of an Arctic Tundra Soil Ecosystem Reveals Highly Endemic Communities

“…Most Mononchida are predators and endemic to non-vegetated soils (Ahmad and Jairajpuri 2010), occupying a higher level in the food chain in these ecosystems. Few Trombidiformes were found at the non-vegetated sites while making up roughly one third and one fourth of ASV reads in the vegetated Sites 2 and 3, respectively, suggesting that only vegetated soils host enough prey items for these predatory mites (Seniczak et al 2020). Sarcoptiform mites were instead found at both vegetated and non-vegetated sites and are mainly expected to have a mycophagous and saprophagous ecology in the Arctic (Young et al 2012).…”

Linked seasonality between a phoretic mite and its moth fly host (Parasitiformes: Mesostigmata and Diptera: Psychodidae)

“…They were identified to species level, using universally applied keys (Ghilyarov and Bregetova, 1977; Hyatt, 1980; Karg, 1993; Kalúz and Fenda, 2005; Gwiazdowicz, 2007. The information on the Mesostigmata of Norway is based on the checklist (Gwiazdowicz and Gulvik, 2005a) and later references (Gwiazdowicz and Gulvik, 2007; Gwiazdowicz et al, 2013; Bolger et al, 2018; Seniczak et al, 2019, 2020, 2021a. Specimens in ethanol and on microscope slides are deposited in the entomological collections, University Museum of Bergen (ZMUB).…”