Morphological ontogeny of Tectoribates ornatus (Acari: Oribatida: Tegoribatidae), with comments on Tectoribates Berlese

Abstract

The morphological ontogeny of Tectoribates ornatus (Schuster, 1958) based on specimens from Romania is described and illustrated. The juveniles of this species are plicate, unideficient and apheredermous, with leaf-like prodorsal setae in and le and most gastronotal setae. The larva has sclerites on the gastronotum, and some of them bear setae. In the juveniles, seta d is present at solenidion σ on genua I-III, I1 on tibia I and I on other tibiae, but this seta is lost in the adult. In the nymphs, seta d on all femora and seta l′ on genu and tibia I are leaf-like.