The catalogue provides systematic information and collates biological and ecological references on species of the acariform mite suborder Oribatida known from North America. Despite the importance of oribatid mites in decomposition processes, this is the first such synthesis in over 75 years. The catalogue deals with 1177 species and subspecies in 329 genera, representing 108 families and 44 superfamilies. The geographical region covered is roughly the Nearctic Realm, excluding Greenland, Mexico, and oceanic islands. Fossil species are included, but quarantine interceptions are omitted. Also not treated are 16 species, listed in the literature as cosmopolitan or American, but whose occurrence in Canada and continental United States has not been confirmed. The systematic arrangement of higher taxa is compiled from many sources, but primarily expresses a functional compromise between the concepts of Grandjean and Balogh.Numerous taxonomic changes were required for the placement of taxa into a modern classification. Four family-group names are given new status (Nehypochthonioidea, Charassobatoidea, Tectocepheoidea, Achipterioidea) mostly to eliminate known polyphyletic taxa. New generic synonymies include: Acrotritia Jacot, 1923 and Peridromotritia Jacot, 1923 with Rhysotritia Märkel and Meyer, 1959; Alloribates Banks, 1947 with Xylobates Jacot, 1929; and Boreozetes Hammer, 1955 with Neogymnobates Ewing, 1917. Fourteen species names are given new status, 24 others are newly synonymized, and 120 are placed in new combinations. Four recombinations resulted in junior secondary homonyms for which new names are proposed. Thirty-six species names are recognized as being of uncertain status: 20 nomina inquirendae, five nomina nuda, five unavailable names, two unplaced taxa, and four misidentifications.For each species and subspecies treated, pertinent information from 1229 references, selected on a global basis, is arranged into 14 subject categories, depending on availability of data. Direct information is provided on: location of type material, synonymies and combinations used in the literature, additional references to synonymies and combinations not included in the previous section, and distributional records (by provinces in Canada, states in the United States, and geographical realms outside North America). Number-coded literature references serve as a guide to species description, taxonomy, keys, works with numerous references, morphology, biology, food, miscellany (culture, extraction, parasitology, physiology), ecology, and remarks.
