Soil mites (Acari, Mesostigmata) of the ‘Torfowiska Doliny Izery’ Reserve in the Sudety Mountains

Abstract

The ‘Torfowiska Doliny Izery’ (Izera Valley Peat bogs) Reserve was established in 2000 and covers 271.39 ha of peat bogs, forests and meadows in Izera River Valley in Izera Mts (Sudety Mts, Poland, SW). This area is one of the largest European complexes of mountain peat bogs with very special microclimate and with the lowest (800 – 840 m above sea level) population of mountain pine in the Sudety Mts. This investigation of Mesostigmata mites is the first in the Reserve. Samples were collected from soil on four different plots: spruce forest, mountain pine forest, peat bogs and a dry meadow. Atotal of 1519 mite specimens of the order Mesostigmata were collected and determined to 53 species. The following species were the most frequent and had the highest number of specimens: Veigaia nemorensis, Gamasellus montanus, Trachytes montana, Paragamasus vagabundus and Trachytes pauperior. The species composition of these four various plots was very different. Cheirosieus serratus, Leptogamasus cristulifer, Leptogamasus obesus, Mixozercon sellnicki, Paragamasus crassicornutus, Paragamasus rostriforceps, Pergamasus ruehmi, Platyseius italicus and Veigaia mollis are species rarely found in Poland.