New species, new records and a checklist of oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) from Nepal

Abstract

An annotated checklist of identified oribatid mite taxa from Nepal is provided. It includes 77 species/subspecies, 56 genera and 40 families; 36 species/subspecies, 21 genera and nine families are recorded for the first time in Nepal. Two new species, Vilhenabates schawalleri sp. n. (Haplozetidae) and Taiwanoppia (Taiwanoppia) paranepalica sp. n. (Oppiidae), are described from soil of central Nepal. Vilhenabates schawalleri sp. n. is morphologically similar to V. giganteus Ermilov & Rybalov, 2012, however, it differs from the latter by the body size, length of rostral, lamellar and subcapitular setae, location of lamellar setae, adanal setae ad3 and adanal lyrifissures and number of porose areas. Taiwanoppia (Taiwanoppia) paranepalica sp. n. is morphologically similar to T. (T.) nepalica Ermilov & Martens, 2014, however, it differs from the latter by the body size and morphology of the rostrum.