Data/hora: 06/06/2024 12:25:47

Biblioteca(s): | Embrapa Florestas.
Data corrente: | 16/09/2008
Data da última atualização: | 16/09/2008
Autoria: | BADEJO, M. A.
Título: | Challenges in taxonomic studies of oribatid mites in Nigeria and Brazil.
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:

Hitherto, taxonomic studies of oribatid mites in Nigeria have been restricted to identification not
beyond the generic level with keys developed from oribatid mite studies elsewhere. At the turn
of this millennium, these studies were advanced further with the description of 16 species of
oribatid mites from Nigeria. Simultaneously, 7 species were also described from Brazil, one of
which is a re-description of Archegozetes magnus which was first described from Sumatra in
1925. Many more species remain undescribed due to dwindling expertise in oribatid studies in
Nigeria in particular, a consequence of several factors among which are: inadequate facilities
for advanced taxonomic work and lack of access to previous reports of taxonomic work on
Oribatida which can only be found in very few museums in Europe and America. While describing
these species, errors in classification and description of oribatid mites in literature were identified.
One of such errors led to the suggestion that several taxonomic groups should be sunk in synonymy.
One of such is a Xylobatid genus, Brasilobates which was seen as a synonym of Protoribates
due to lack of traits of phylogenetic value that could be used to justify a separate generic status
for Brasilobates. Such errors arose due to lack of communication between different workers in
different parts of the world. In addition, many poorly described species were seen in old literature
and it was suggested that there should be a re-examination and re-description of many type
specimens as well as complete revision of taxa so as to expand definitions and arrest the current
trend of proliferation of families and genera. The task of designing identification keys for local
oribatid mite species remains the greatest academic challenge facing oribatodologists in Nigeria
and Brazil today. It is however acknowledged that with the description of those new species, the
stage has been set not only for advanced ecological research on them in the Ethiopian and
Neotropical regions, but also for laboratory experiments on their biology, physiology and
ecotoxicology. This is potentially capable of bridging the gap in knowledge that currently exists
in respect of such research findings between the northern and southern hemispheres

Categoria do assunto: | --
Registro original: | Embrapa Florestas (CNPF)
Exemplares: | CNPF - (43593-1) - UPE - PL - -- - CD0305 -  -  - DIS