Additions to the oribatid mite fauna (Acari, Oribatida) of Ethiopia: results of the Joint Russian-Ethiopian Biological Expedition (2014) to the vicinity of Lake Tana

The present study is based on oribatid mite material (Acari, Oribatida) collected in October–December 2014 from the vicinity of Lake Tana, Northwest Ethiopia. A list of identified taxa, including 34 species from 29 genera and 25 families, is provided; of these, ten species, seven genera and three families are recorded in Ethiopia for the first time. A new species of the genus Haplozetes (Haplozetidae) is described from the leaf litter of forests with Coffea arabica and Podacarpus gracilor. Haplozetes valbehanae n. sp. is morphologically most similar to H. triungulatus Beck, 1964, but differs by the tridentate rostrum and presence of four pairs of genital setae and dense cerotegumental tubercles in the anterior part of the ventral plate.


INTRODUCTION
In recent years the Ethiopian oribatid mite fauna has been actively studied (for example, Ermilov et al. 2012a;Rybalov 2012b, 2013;Ermilov et al. 2014;Miko et al. 2014;Niedbała and Ermilov 2014). The present study is based on the material collected during the Russian-Ethiopian expedition in October-December 2014 to the vicinity of Lake Tana (Northwest Ethiopia). The primary goal of the paper is to present a list and new records of the identified taxa.
In the course of taxonomic identification, I found one new species, belonging to the genus Haplozetes Willmann, 1935. The secondary goal of the paper is to describe and illustrate this species under the name Haplozetes valbehanae n. sp.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Material -Oribatid mites were collected from four sites of the vicinity of Lake Tana (Northwest Ethiopia): -Et-2014-20: 11°41'36"N, 37°20'49"E, near Lake Methods -Specimens were mounted in lactic acid on temporary cavity slides for measurement and illustration. Body length was measured in lateral view, from the tip of the rostrum to the posterior edge of the ventral plate. Notogastral width refers to the maximum width in dorsal aspect. Lengths of body setae were measured in lateral aspect. All body measurements are presented in micrometers. Formulas for leg setation are given in parentheses according to the sequence trochanterfemur-genu-tibia-tarsus (famulus included). Formulas for leg solenidia are given in square brackets according to the sequence genu-tibia-tarsus.
Morphological terminology used in this paper follows that of F. Grandjean: see Travé and Vachon (1975) for general references, Norton (1977) for leg setal nomenclature, and Norton and Behan-Pelletier (2009), for overview.
Drawings were made with a camera lucida using a Carl Zeiss transmission light microscope "Axioskop-2 Plus". Images were obtained with an AxioCam ICc3 camera using a Carl Zeiss transmission light microscope "Axio Lab.A1".

LIST OF ORIBATID TAXA COLLECTED FROM THE VICINITY OF LAKE TANA 1
This list indicates the specific localities where oribatid mites were collected, and notes new records and general known distribution 2 .
Remarks -The new species is morphologically most similar to Haplozetes triungulatus Beck, 1964 from El Salvador in having long, fusiform bothridial setae, small body size, foveolate surface, short interlamellar setae, localization of rostral setae (under tutorial teeth) and tridactylous legs. However, it differs from the latter by the tridentate rostrum (vs. rounded) and presence of four pairs of genital setae (vs. five pairs) and dense cerotegumental tubercles in anterior part of ventral plate (vs. absent).
financially supported by the Russian Academy of Sciences. An overlapping project, study of mites associated with ants, was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, project No. 6.1933.2014/K (code 1933.