1✉ Ondokuz Mayis University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Plant Protection, 55139, Samsun, Türkiye.
2Ondokuz Mayis University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Plant Protection, 55139, Samsun, Türkiye.
3The University of Queensland, School of the Environment, 4072, Brisbane, Australia.
4Ondokuz Mayis University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Plant Protection, 55139, Samsun, Türkiye.
5Sakarya University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology, 54187, Sakarya, Türkiye.
2025 - Volume: 65 Issue: 1 pages: 52-66
https://doi.org/10.24349/cnt5-mgbdThe Kizilirmak Delta is a RAMSAR-listed wetland area in Samsun Province on the northern, Black Sea coast of Türkiye. Free-ranging wild horses, and cattle and sheep, graze the area year round and domesticated water buffaloes roam freely from March to October (Sullivan et al. 2016, 2017).
The delta's wide variety of habitats is highly likely to host numerous, undescribed invertebrate species, including mites. Oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) are widely distributed across the world. There are 11,628 described oribatid species and subspecies (Subías 2022, online version 2024). Oribatids, which usually live in the soil, can number hundreds of thousands per square metre (Behan-Pelletier and Lindo 2023).
Dung pads are scattered, high-quality resource patches of relatively small size and short duration that support complex communities (Mohr 1943). The oribatids colonize dung during the final stages of decomposition (Floate 2011; Seniczak et al. 2017) and are involved in nutrient cycling and soil enrichment (Behan-Pelletier 2003; Maaß et al. 2015). They are also involved in the dispersal of fungal spores in dung (Chepstow-Lusty et al. 2019). Numerous other studies have been published on the relationships among oribatid mites, dung and soil across the world (Nakamura 1976; Stamatiadis and Dindal 1990; Hoy 2008; Seniczak et al. 2017; Behan-Pelletier and Lindo 2023).
The genus Plakoribates evolved in the east of the supercontinent, Gondwana (Hammer and Wallwork 1979). The characteristics that distinguish this genus were documented by Balogh and Balogh (1992), Ermilov and Anichkin (2013) and Behan-Pelletier (2017). In addition, Ermilov and Anichkin (2013) proposed a dichotomous key for all of the six known species of this genus described worldwide. The regional distribution of these species is as follows: Ethiopian (Angola), Neotropical (Bolivia), Oriental (India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam) and Palearctic (Egypt) (Subías 2022, online version 2024).
The family placement of Plakoribates is unresolved and needs to be clarified (Norton and Ermilov 2014). Plakoribates has been included in the families Tegoribatidae, Oribatellidae, Achipteriidae and Phenopelopidae by different authors (Balogh 1959; Popp 1960; Balogh and Mahunka 1978; Hammer 1979; Woas 2002; Ermilov and Anichkin 2013; Subías 2022, online version 2024). We placed it in Tegoribatidae because of the lack of potential apomorphies, as reported by Behan-Pelletier (2017) and Subías (2022, online version 2024).
This study represents the first investigation of the oribatid mite fauna associated with animal dung in Türkiye. Only species belonging to the poronotic oribatid group were found. A new species is described and three new records for Türkiye are presented.
Dry water buffalo dung was collected at two-week intervals between May and October, and at one month intervals between November and April, 2014 and 2015, which therefore comprised two years of sampling, at three different sites approximately two kilometres apart in the Kizilirmak Delta in Samsun Province, Türkiye. Two of the sites were on stranded sand dunes at 41.675090° N, 36.046494° E (site 1) and 41.656236° N, 36.066066° E (site 2), and the third site was in a sandy, clay-loam area that is occasionally submerged (41.671011° N, 36.037589° E) (site 3).
At each site, five dung pads, aged at least five days, were randomly collected and placed in separate plastic bags. The contents of each bag were roughly crushed and thoroughly mixed, after which a subsample of 100 gram was taken from each bag for mite extraction by using Berlese funnels. The extracted specimens were cleared in 50% lactic acid, mounted on cavity slides and examined under a microscope (Leica® DM 1000). Drawings were made with the assistance of a camera lucida at 100x magnification and illustrations were sketched and fixed with Inkscape 1.3.
For SEM (scanning electron microscopy) imaging, the specimens were sequentially immersed in 30% lactic acid for 12 hours, distilled water for 5 minutes, 70% alcohol for 5 minutes, and 100% alcohol for 5 minutes. The cleared specimens were placed in stubs and images were captured with an SEM (JEOL® JSM 6060 LV). The keys of Balogh and Balogh (1992, 2002) and Behan-Pelletier and Lindo (2023), were used for the identifications. All measurements are given in micrometers (μm), as a mean or range in brackets.
Abbreviations ro – rostral seta; le – lamellar seta; in – interlamellar seta; ex – exobothridial seta; tu – tutorium; bs – bothridial seta; lam – lamella; mt – median tubercle; Pd I, Pd II - pedotecta I and II; c, la, lm, lp, h1-3 , p1-3 – notogastral setae; P1, P2, P3 – pores; Ap – postanal porose area; ia, im, ip – notogastral lyrifissures; sac – sacculi; gla – opithonotal gland opening; len – lenticulus; dis – discidium; cir – circumpedal carina; cus – custodium; tub – tubercule; 1a-b, 2a, 3a-c, 4a-c – epimeral setae; g1-6 – genital setae; an1-2 – anal setae; ad1-3 – adanal setae; iad – adanal lyrifissure; p.o. – preanal organ; a, m, h – subcapitular setae; cha, chb – cheliceral setae; Tg – Trägårdh's organ; Tr, Fe, Ge, Ti, Ta – trochanter, femur, genu, tibia, and tarsus, respectively; σ, φ, ω – leg solenidia; ɛ – famulus.
Type species: Plakoribates multicuspidatus Popp, 1960
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(Figures 1 – 6).
Smooth notogastral surface; setiform, smooth notogastral, anal and adanal setae; rostrum with three lateral teeth; smooth lamellar surface; bothridial, interlamellar and lamellar setae heavily barbed; bothridial and interlamellar setae of similar length; lenticulus present but weakly defined; three pairs of adanal setae; anterior subcapitulum mentum and epimeral region with striations towards the middle; subcapitulum mentum and coxisternum with distinct striae and micropunctae.
Body length 347 (holotype, female), 344-373 (forty-four paratypes; female: 30, male: 14); width 248 (holotype), 240-256 (paratypes).
Integument: Body colour light brown. Pteromorph surface micropunctate, notogastral and prodorsal surface smooth. Tutoria surface with short and long striations. Genital and anal plates surfaces smooth, polygonal ornamentation present between these plates, transversely arranged. Mentum and epimeral region surfaces with micropunctations and short striations. Epimeral region with three to five nearly round sigillae and striations angled towards the centre.
Prodorsum: Rostrum dentate with small teeth on each side. Lamella apically dentate and broad, with middle tooth longest, and with one or two relatively small teeth on the sides. Rostral seta (37–42) setiform and barbed, lamellar seta (43–46) and interlamellar seta (54–58) setiform and barbed, exobothridial seta (6–8) setiform and slightly barbed. Bothridial seta (42–49) fusiform-clavate, with rounded and densely barbed head. Tutorium broad, triangular, long. Distance between bothridia longer than length of bothridial seta.
Notogaster: Lenticulus present, but weak. Dorsosejugal suture slightly pointed medially. Pteromorphae short, not reaching the level of bothridia. Ten pairs of setiform and smooth notogastral setae (18–21). Opisthonotal gland openings posterior to h3 setae. Lyrifissures ia between la and lm, im medial to h3, ip medial to h1. Pores: P1 anteromedial to and between notogastral setae, la and lm; P2 located between lp and h3; P3 medial to notogastral setae, p3.
Gnathosoma: Subcapitular dimensions 77 × 60. Subcapitular setae setiform and barbed; h (17–19), a (16–18) and m (22–24). Adoral setae (or1 , or2 , 5) setiform and setose. Palp formula 0–2–1–3–9(+ω), length 79. Chelicerae length 89-92, cha (36–41) and chb (20–24) setiform with barbed setae. Trägårdh's organ (Tg) present.
Epimeral and lateral podosomal regions: Epimeral setal formula: 2–1–3–3, setae (17–21), setiform, barbed. Pedotecta II rounded. Discidia triangular. Circumpedal carinae well developed; apodemes 1, 2, sejugal and 3 distinct, custodium sharp, tubercule present.
Anogenital region: Six pairs of genital setae (10–13), one pair of aggenital setae (14–16) setiform-barbed, two pairs of anal setae (8–10) and three pairs of adanal setae (8–10) setiform and smooth. Lyrifissures iad paraanal. A few paratypes have one adanal seta (ad1) missing (Figure 6G). Preanal organ present. Postanal porose area (19 x 5) rectangular and inferior to adanal setae.
Legs: All legs heterotridactylous and medial claw with thorns on dorsal side. Dorsal porose areas on femora I–IV and on trochanters III, IV. All setae barbed. One lateral seta on tibiae and genua I, II, thorn-like. Famulus short and blunt-tipped. All solenidia setiform (φ1 on tibiae I longest). For arrangement of leg setation and solenidia, see Table 1.
Download as
Leg
Trochanter
Femur
Genu
Tibia
Tarsus
I
v′
d, (l), bv″, v″
(l), v′, σ
(l), (v), φ1, φ2
(ft), (tc), (it), (p), (u), (a), s, (pv),v′, (pl), l″, ɛ, ω1, ω2
II
v′
d, (l), bv″, v″
(l), v′, σ
(l), (v), φ
(ft), (tc), (it), (p), (u), (a), s, (pv), ω1, ω2
III
l′, v′
d, l′, ev′
l′, σ
l′, (v), φ
(ft), (tc), (it), (p), (u), (a), s, (pv)
IV
v′
d, ev′
d, l′
l′, (v), φ
ft″, (tc), (p), (u), (a), s, (pv)
Type material — Female holotype (slide number: 55SG44) and 44 paratypes (female: 30, male: 14), from dry water buffalo dung on sandy clay loam soil in the Kizilirmak Delta, Samsun Province, Türkiye (41.671011 N, 36.037589 E) (site 3), collected on 25.03.2015 and 16.04.2015 by Sebahat K. Ozman-Sullivan and Gregory T. Sullivan.
Type deposition — The holotype and paratypes are deposited in the collection of the Acarology Laboratory of Ondokuz Mayis University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Plant Protection, Samsun, Türkiye.
Plakoribates cernekensis n. sp. differs from P. scutatus Hammer, 1979 and P. confluens Balogh, 1970 by the presence of anterior teeth on the tips of lamellae (versus absent) (Balogh 1970; Hammer 1979). The new species differs from P. multicuspidus Popp, 1960 and P. africanus (Balogh, 1959) by the presence of polygonal ornamentation between the genital and anal plates (versus absent) (Balogh 1959; Popp 1960). In addition, it differs from P. neotropicus Balogh & Mahunka, 1978 by the presence of rostral teeth and im lyrifissures medial to notogastral setae h3 (versus rostral teeth absent, im antero-medial to h3 , equi-distant between h3 and lp) (Balogh and Mahunka 1978).
The new species closely resembles P. asiaticus Ermilov & Anichkin, 2013 but differs from it, as follows: smooth notogastral surface (versus micropunctate notogastral surface); setiform-smooth notogastral, anal and adanal setae (versus setiform and slightly barbed notogastral, anal and adanal setae); smooth lamellar surface (versus lamellar surface with conical microtubercules); interlamellar and lamellar setae heavily barbed (versus interlamellar and lamellar setae slightly barbed); bothridial and interlamellar setae similar in length (versus interlamellar setae longer than bothridial setae); lenticulus present (versus lenticulus absent); three pairs of adanal setae (versus two pairs of adanal setae); im medial to notogastral setae h3, ip medial to h1 (versus im anterolateral to h3; ip lateral to h1); coxisternum with distinct striae and micropunctae (versus ventral plate (including genital and anal plates) and pedotecta II with short striae) (Ermilov and Anichkin 2013).
The present study recorded the genus Plakoribates in Türkiye for the first time. Plakoribates cernekensis n. sp. was found in dry dung. Other species of Plakoribates have been collected elsewhere from different habitats like damp wood, sandy-loam soil, forest litter, ferns and mosses (Balogh 1959, 1970; Popp 1960; Balogh and Mahunka 1978; Hammer 1979; Ermilov and Anichkin 2013).
The name of this species derives from Lake Cernek, close to the type locality in the Kizilirmak Delta in Samsun Province, Türkiye.
(Figures 7A-G)
Body length 335-352, width 175-196.
Diagnostic characters — Body dark reddish-brown. Bothridial seta setiform, long and smooth. Interlamellar line present. Anterior part of the notogaster extends to the interlamellar line. Rostrum rounded. Lenticulus and its borders distinct. Notogaster surface with polygonal pattern, with lateral sides only slightly elongated and three pairs of round porose areas present. Notogastral setae weakly developed and spindle shaped. Ventral surface similar to notogaster. Legs with porose areas present on trochanters III – IV, femura, tibiae and tarsi. Heterobidactylous.
Material examined — Collected all around the year, 306 adults, sites 1-3.
World distribution — Holarctic, Palearctic (less common in the North) and Canada (Subías 2022, online version 2024).
Remarks — Bipassalozetes intermedius closely resembles B. rugosus (Sitnikova, 1975) and differs only by the notogaster center and edges not having different shaped and length reticulations (Sitnikova, 1982). The examined specimens differed only in the relatively short bar-shaped (only weakly polygonal shaped) structures at the edges of the notogaster surface. Bipassalozetes intermedius was reported from both wet and dry meadows around a lake (Mihelčič 1954).
(Figures 8A-B)
Body length 345-386, width 222-272.
Diagnostic characters — Body colour dark reddish-brown. Integument punctate. Rostrum rounded. Median triangular tooth on the prodorsum between the lamellae. Rostral (60), bothridial (79), lamellar (91) and interlamellar (127) setae bacilliform and barbed. Ten pairs of notogastral setae (26), spiniform. Outer edges of lamella and anterior edges of pteromorphae slightly serrate. Four pairs of sacculi, ocellate. Epimeral seta 4c thick and barbed. Genital and anal plate lengths 40 μm and 52 μm, respectively, with distance between them 75 μm. Genital (8), aggenital (10), anal (9) and adanal (10) setae setiform. Lyrifissure iad preanal. Legs heterotridactylous.
Material examined — Three adults, 16 April 2015, site 1.
World distribution — Japan (Subías 2022, online version 2024).
Remarks — There are only two known species in the subgenus Oribatella (Sacculoribatella) Shtanchaeva and Subias, 2012: Oribatella (S.) caspica Shtanchaeva and Subias, 2012 from the Caucasus region, and O. (S.) nasuorum from Japan (Subías 2022, online version 2024). Habitats of O. (S.) nasuorum have been reported to be Quercus sp., Alnus sp., grassland, litter, humus and garden soil (Fujikawa 2012; Chinone 2022). The subgenus Oribatella (Sacculoribatella) was recorded from dry water buffalo dung in this study. This is the first record of this subgenus from Türkiye.
(Figures 9A – 9C)
Body length 800, width 561.
Diagnostic characters — Body brown in colour. Translamella relatively weak. Lamellar cuspis short but evident. Interlamellar seta barbed and extending beyond the rostrum. Bothridial seta globular. Tutorium developed. Pteromorph triangular-shaped. Legs tridactylous. Porose area, Aa, oval. Rostrum rounded, with a nasal structure at the level of the tutorium.
Material examined — One adult, 02 June 2015, site 1.
World distribution — Semicosmopolitan (Holarctic: except Eastern Palearctic, Ethiopia, Pacific Islands and Mexico) (Subías 2022, online version 2024).
Remarks — Humerobates rostrolamellatus is eurytopic, including having tolerance for salty soil (Weigmann 2013; Ermilov and Khaustov 2021), and can also live arboreally (Strenzke 1952).
Body length 445, width 314.
Material examined — Three adults, 23 February 2015, sites 2 and 3.
World distribution — Palaearctic (Europe and West Central Asia) (Subías 2022, online version 2024).
Remarks — Reported from Yozgat Province in Türkiye (Kökez and Per 2016).
Body length 455, width 282.
Material examined — Sixty five adults, collected all year round, sites 1-3.
World distribution — Holarctic (Palearctic and Northern Nearctic) and Ethiopia (Subías 2022, online version 2024).
Remarks — Reported from Erzurum and Hatay Provinces in Türkiye (Yalçın et al. 2013; Ay and Ayyıldız 2017).
Body length 400, width 250.
Material examined — Found all year round, 399 adults, sites 1-3.
World distribution — Cosmopolitan (except Antarctica) (Subías 2022, online version 2024).
Remarks — This species has been reported from Erzurum, Konya and Denizli Provinces in Türkiye (Ayyıldız 1986; Di̇k et al. 1999; Özmen 2008; Yalçın et al. 2013).
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare in relation to the subject matter of this paper.
The authors thank the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Türkiye for permission to collect mites from water buffalo dung in the Kizilirmak Delta. Thanks are also due to the two anonymous reviewers and the editors for their valuable suggestions and comments on the manuscript.