Sphaerochthoniidae

Ventral view of Sphaerochthonius, from here.

Belongs within: Enarthronota.

The Sphaerochthoniidae are a cosmopolitan group of oribatid mites with the notogaster divided by a telescoping type L scissure.

Characters (from Norton & Behan-Pelletier 2009): Integument distinctly patterned (foveolate or reticulate); at least some dorsal setae of notogaster and/or prodorsum heavily ciliate, T-shaped. Prodorsum stegasime; base of bothridial seta with conspicuous sharp proximal d bend. Notogaster with single transverse type L scissure, posterior to setal row c; four pairs of setae inserting on anterior notogastral plate (pronotaspis); opisthonotal gland absent. 4–10 pairs of anal setae present in linear arrangement. Legs with five free segments past coxisternum (femora undivided); trochanters I and II each with one seta; leg pretarsi with empodial claw well developed.

<==Sphaerochthoniidae
    |--Similochthonius Mahunka 1985 [incl. Sphaerochochthonius Mahunka 1985] S04
    |    |--*S. decoratus Mahunka 1985 S04
    |    `--S. australis (Mahunka 1985) [=Sphaerochochthonius australis] S04
    `--Sphaerochthonius Berlese 1910 [incl. Sphaerochthoniella Mahunka 1985] S04
         |--*S. splendidus (Berlese 1904) [=Hypochthonius splendidus] S04
         |--S. bengalensis Sanyal & Sengupta 1990 S04
         |--S. dilutus Sergienko 1991 S04
         |--S. fungifer Mahunka 1983 S04
         |--S. gemma (Oudemans 1909) (see below for synonymy) S04
         |--S. longisetus Wallwork 1977 S04
         |--S. ovatus Sergienko 1991 S04
         |--S. pallidus Muñoz-Mingarro 1987 S04
         |--S. phyllophorus Balogh & Mahunka 1969 S04
         |--S. spectabilis Gordeeva, Niemi & Petrova-Nikitina 1996 S04
         |--S. strinatii Mahunka 1982 S04
         |--S. suzukii Aoki 1977 S04
         |--S. transversus Wallwork 1960 S04
         |--S. uruguayensis Pérez-Íñigo & Sarasola 1998 S04
         `--S. variesetosus Mahunka 1997 S04

Sphaerochthonius gemma (Oudemans 1909) [=Hypochthonius gemma; incl. S. elegans Berlese 1910, S. elegans Berlese 1916 non Berlese 1910, S. wallworki Lee 1982] S04

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

Norton, R. A., & V. M. Behan-Pelletier. 2009. Suborder Oribatida. In: Krantz, G. W., & D. E. Walter (eds) A Manual of Acarology 3rd ed. pp. 430–564. Texas Tech University Press.

[S04] Subías, L. S. 2004. Listado sistemático, sinonímico y biogeográfico de los ácaros oribátidos (Acariformes, Oribatida) del mundo (1758–2002). Graellsia 60 (número extraordinario): 3–305.