Oribatid mites (Acarina: Oribatida) of the Czech Republic. Revised check-list with a proposal for Czech oribatid nomenclature

Abstract: A new check-list of the oribatid mites (Acarina: Oribatida) of the Czech Republic is presented following a critical review of data published before 2012. Faunistic data were supplemented with all obtainable data from unpublished sources (habilitation works, theses, project reports, etc.), known to the author up to 2012. The checklist was complemented by the author’s new data. Identity and interpretation of species was checked against latest developments in classification, including physical checks in various acarological collections. In total, 539 species are reliably recorded from the Czech Republic, belonging to 77 families and 200 genera and subgenera. One species, Lamellovertex caelatus (Berlese, 1894), is recorded from the Czech Republic for the first time. Another 18 species are considered to be species inquirenda or species incertae sedis and could not be attributed to any other valid species. Paulonothrus Kunst, 1971 is newly treated as subgenus of Heminothrus Berlese, 1913; Capillonothrus Kunst, 1971 and Ovonothrus Kunst, 1971 are newly treated as subgenera of Platynothrus Berlese, 1913. Punctoribates pragensis Winkler, 1957 syn. nov. is newly considered as a junior subjective synonym of Punctoribates punctum (C. L. Koch, 1839) and Liacarus oribatelloides Winkler, 1956 syn. nov. as a junior subjective synonym of Liacarus coracinus (C. L. Koch, 1841). The distribution of known species and subspecies in the Czech and Moravian regions is also given, including distribution maps. All known localities in the Czech Republic where oribatids were collected before 2012 were identified to the highest possible resolution, located on maps and their complete overview including corresponding authors are listed in the Appendix. The paper also attempts, for the first time, to create Czech names for species, genera and families of oribatid mites, and explains the origins of the proposed names.

Key words: Oribatida, family, genus, check–list, Czech Republic, Czech names