Ptyctimous mites (Acari, Oribatida) of Tanzania

This monograph sums up the state of knowledge of ptyctimous mites fauna of Tanzania on the basis of literature data. Diagnoses of 61 species known from Tanzania (TAN) are given, 15 species have been redescribed on the basis of types and 22 species have been redescribed in earlier papers. One new species: A. ( H.) onkos sp. nov. is described. For each species a morphological diagnosis and geographic distribution are given. Eight species are new to TAN, including one new to the Afrotropical Region. Keys for identification of species and higher taxa are given. The fauna of ptyctimous mites of Tanzania (TAN) shows some differences and specificities as well as some similarities to the fauna of the nearby hotspot Madagascar with neighbouring islands (MAG), to that of the Afrotropical Region and even to that of distanced faunas of other zoogeographic regions of the southern hemisphere. The fauna of TAN comprises slightly more genera and subgenera (19) than that of MAG (18), although the number of species in MAG is much higher (111) than in TAN (61 species). The specious higher taxa are: Pocsia, Plonaphacarus and Notophthiracarus. Pocsia is represented by the highest number (10) of species found in the Afrotropical Region, and it is likely this subgenus originates from Tanzania (7 endemic species). Plonaphacarus is relatively rich in species in the Oriental Region. Notophthiracarus is even more speciose in the fauna of MAG and the Australasian Region. Over a half of the species known from Tanzania (37) were found in the material collected in 2010 from the Uluguru and Nguru Mts. Both these mountain ranges show some specificity of fauna. Two species occur only in the Nguru range, while as many as 7 species are endemites in the Uluguru.