Data/hora: 04/06/2024 06:40:41

Biblioteca(s): | Embrapa Florestas.
Data corrente: | 15/09/2008
Data da última atualização: | 15/09/2008
Autoria: | VÁZQUEZ, M. M.; PARRA, G. M.; MONTAÑO, H.; KLOMPEN, H.
Título: | Mexico, a center of diversity for Opilioacarida (Acari: Parasitiformes).
Ano de publicação: | 2008
Fonte/Imprenta: | In: INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM ON SOIL ZOOLOGY, 15; INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM ON APTERYGOTA, 12., 2008, Curitiba. Biodiversity, conservation and sustainabele management of soil animal: abstracts. Colombo: Embrapa Florestas. Editors: George Gardner Brown; Klaus Dieter Sautter; Renato Marques; Amarildo Pasini. 1 CD-ROM.
Idioma: | Inglês

Conteúdo:

The suborder Opilioacarida (Acari: Parasitiformes) currently includes 1 family, 9 described
genera, and 25 species, which occur on all continents except Antarctica. In Mexico,
Opilioacaridae have previously been recorded from the states of Baja California Sur and Quintana
Roo, but recent studies of the soil fauna provided a large number of additional records for Mexico,
and adjacent sites in Belize, and Guatemala.
The main goal of this study is to present a more detailed description of the geographic distribution
of Opilioacaridae in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala, with notes on the preferred habitats,
abundance and phenology.
Method: The majority of specimens was obtained during intensive surveys of the microarthropod
fauna in several regions of Mexico and Belize. Most specimens were extracted from litter using
Berlese funnels. Pitfall traps and manual collecting under rocks and loose bark of fallen logs
provided additional specimens. Material was studied as permanent slide mounted specimens,
as temporary preparations in cavity slides, or preserved in 70° ethyl alcohol.
Results: 318 specimens were collected between 2005 and 2007, 148 from the states of Quintana
Roo and Campeche, 165 from other parts of Mexico, 14 from Belize, and 1 from Guatemala.
Mexican states from which Opilioacaridae have been collected now include: Baja California
Sur (3), Campeche (87), Chiapas (18), Colima (9), Durango (45), Guerrero (36), Jalisco (6),
Oaxaca (12), Querétaro (6), Quintana Roo (61), Tamaulipas (1) and Veracruz (27). Notably, all
collection sites are in coastal states bordering either the Pacific Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico
and the Caribbean Sea. Substantial species-level diversity appears to be present. In fact the
specimens in this survey represent more species than currently described from the rest of the
world combined. Part of this may be an artifact due to collecting bias, as the only other country
surveyed intensely for this family, Madagascar, is also showing a large number of (new) species
(Vazquez & Klompen in prep). Even so, Mexico appears to be a center of diversity for this
group. The type of vegetation and habitats occupied, shows a very wide range, including pineoak
forest in Baja California Sur, high tropical forest in Calakmul, Campeche and Noh-Bec,
Quintana Roo, cave entrances and xerophilous shrubs in Guerrero and Oaxaca, and coastal
dunes in Veracruz. This suggests few limits on broad habitat tolerance, other than the fact that
all of these sites are tropical or subtropical.
Literature cited
- Grandjean, J. 1936. Un acarian synthetique: Opilioacarus segmentatus with Bull. Mus. Hist.
Nat. Afr. Nord 27: 413-444
- Vazquez, M. M. & H. Klompen. 2002. The family Opilioacaridae (Acari: Parasitiformes) in
North and Central America, with description of four new species. Acarologia, XLII, 4: 299-322.
Acknowledgements: We would like to thank A. Valdez, V. Vaca, M. Fuentes, O. Francke, C.
Santibanez, A. Ballesteros, J. Ponce, M. Cordova and G. Villegas. Who collected valuable
material from different parts of Mexico and to the projects 1) Lacandonia schismatica: recurso
genético estratégico para México y Conservación de la Selva Lacandonia (CONACyT N° CO1-
043/B1); 2) Revision de la familia Vaejovidae (NFSN° 0413454); 3

Categoria do assunto: | --
Registro original: | Embrapa Florestas (CNPF)
Exemplares: | CNPF - (43558-1) - UPE - PL - -- - CD0305 -  -  - DIS