Carolinea 77

L amos : Discovery of Belba sculpta M ihel č i č , 1957 177 ( F ischer et al. 2009) as is the case in similar con- tinental dune habitats in Sandhausen near Hei- delberg ( R ussell & A lberti 2010). The preliminary results, based on a very small sample size, suggest that the Belba sculpta from the Dossenwald prefer a relatively warm and perhaps also a dry habitat. This agrees well with the geographical distribution of Belba sculpta in Western Europe, where the species is so far known only from warm semi-arid locations in peninsular Spain ( S ubías et al. 2017) and the Canary Islands ( M oraza & P eña 2005). However, M urvanidze & M umladze (2016) mention Belba sculpta occurring at humid subtropical locations in Georgia, including the rainy Mtirala National Park. Nevertheless, the temperatures of the loca- tions where B . sculpta has so far been collected in Georgia, including Anaklia and Tbilisi itself, are mostly warm and distinctly higher than those of Mannheim, especially in winter. Although Belba sculpta may conceivably have been introduced to the Dossenwald area by hu- man activity, it is more likely that the species is in fact a steppe relict or a Mediterranean faunal element which first colonized suitable habitat patches in Southern Germany already during the late Pleistocene or earlier. It would be in- teresting to find out whether B. sculpta is also found in other inland aeolian sand or dune sites, such as the one nearby Sandhausen, where a not further identified “Belboidae sp.” was discove- red by R ussell et al. (1994, p. 337), and whether in Southern Germany the species is endemic to such habitats. Acknowledgements I heartily wish to thank Dr. L adislav M iko of Charles Uni- versity in Prague for reviewing the paper. My thanks also go to Dr. S teffen W oas of the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe for providing access to col- lection material, for commenting on the manuscript and for numerous discussions. I am indebted to S tefan S charf and A riane R app for the layout. References A bd - el - hamid , M. E. (1966): Wiederbeschreibung von Damaeus onustus ( C. L . K och , 1844) (Acari, Ori- batei). – Zoologischer Anzeiger 176 : 43-51. A lberti , G ., H eethoff , M ., N orton , R . A ., S chmelzle , S ., S eniczak , A . & S eniczak , S. (2011): Fine structure of the gnathosoma of Archegozetes longisetus A oki (Acari: Oribatida, Trhypochthoniidae). – Journal of Morphology 272 (9): 1025-1079. A rribas , M. A., S ubías , L. S. & R uiz , E. (1984): Oribáti- dos (Acarida, Oribatida) superiores gimnonóticos del ´sabinar albar` espagnol. – Cuadernos de Inves- tigación Biologica (Bilbao) 5 : 57-63. B alogh , J. (1972): The oribatid genera of the world. – 188 pp. + 71 plates.; Budapest (Akademiai Kiado). B alogh , J. & B alogh , P. (1992): The oribatid mites gen- era of the world. – Vol. 1, 263 pp.; Vol. 2, 375 p.; Bu- dapest (Hungarian Natural History Museum Press). B anks , N. (1904): Some Arachnida from California. – Proceeedings of the California Academy of Sciences 3 : 331-374 + pl. 38-41. B ayartogtokh , B . (2000): New oribatid mites of the ge- nus Belba (Acari: Oribatida: Damaeidae) from Mon- golia. – International Journal of Acarology 26 (4): 297-319. B ayartogtokh , B . (2004): Oribatid mites of the genera Belba and Belbodamaeus (Acari: Oribatida: Damae­ idae) from Eastern Mongolia. – Zootaxa 476 : 1-11. B eck , L., H orak , F. & W oas , S. (2018): Südwestdeut- sche Oribatiden (Acari, Oribatida) – Arten, Taxono- mie, Vorkommen. – Andrias 21 : 1-196. B ehan - P elletier , V . M . & N orton , R . A . (1983): Epida­ maeus (Acari: Damaeidae) of Arctic Western North America and extreme Northeastern USSR. – Cana- dian Entomologist 115 : 1253-1289. B ehan - P elletier , V . M . & N orton , R. A . (1985): Epida­ maeus (Acari: Damaeidae) of Subarctic Western North America and extreme Northeastern USSR. – Canadian Entomologist 117 : 277-319. B ernini , F ., A vanzati , A. M . & B ernini , S. (1987): Notulae Oribatologicae XXXVII. Gli Acari Oribatei del Mas- sicio del Pollino (Italia Meridionale): aspetti faunistici e biogeografici. – Lavori della Societa Italiana di Bio- geografia 10 : 379-488. B ernini , F ., C astagnoli , M . & N annelli , R . (1995): Arach- nida Acari. – In: M inelli , A., R uffo , S . & L a P osta , S . (eds): Checklist delle specie della Fauna Italiana 24 : 1-132; Bologna (Calderini). B ulanova - Z achvatkina , E . M . (1962): Bulavonogie pan- cirnye klesci semejstva Damaeidae B erlese , 1896 (Triba Belbini, triba n.). – Zoologicheskii Zhurnal 41 : 203-216. B ulanova - Z achvatkina E . M . (1967): Pancirnyje kleschchi Oribatidy. – 254 pp.; Moscow (Vysshaja Shkola). B ulanova - Z achvatkina , E . M . (1975): Belboidea D ubinin , 1954 (=Damaeoidea B alogh , 1964). – In: G hilarov , M. S. & K rivolutsky , D. A. (eds): Sarcoptiformes. Op- redelitel obitajuschtschich wpotschwe kleschtschej: 120-142; Moscow (Nauka). DWD (2019): Deutscher Wetterdienst. Measurement station Mannheim Vogelstang. – http://www.wetter zentrale.de/averages_de.php?jaar=2017&maand=1 &dag=1&jaar2=2017&maand2=12&dag2=31&stati on=5906 (accessed 19.11.2018) E nami , Y . (1989): A new species of Belba (Acari: Damae­ idae) from Japan. – Proceedings of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology 40 : 39-42. E nami , Y. (1994): A new species of the genus Belba (Aca­ ri: Damaeidae) from Japan. – Edaphologia 51 : 1-5.

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI1Mjc=