New species of Crotonia (Acari: Oribatida: Crotoniidae) from Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands: further evidence of long-distance dispersal events in the biogeography of a genus of Gondwanan relict oribatid mites

Abstract

Three new species of oribatid mite belonging to the genus Crotonia are described: one from Lord Howe Island (C. gorgonia sp. nov.) and two (C. norfolkensis sp. nov. and C. utricularia sp. nov.) from Norfolk Island, South-west Pacific. Crotonia gorgonia sp. nov. belongs to the Capistrata species group which reaches its highest diversity in Australia but is absent from New Zealand. Crotonia norfolkensis sp. nov. is a member of the Cophinaria group, recorded from Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia, but with closest morphological similarity to C. brachyrostrum (Hammer, 1966) from New Zealand. Crotonia utricularia sp. nov. belongs to the Unguifera group, which reaches its highest diversity in New Zealand, is absent from Australia, and is present on Vanuatu and the Marquesas. The distribution of members of the species-groups of Crotonia in the south-western Pacific indicates that the species from Lord Howe Island has affinities with species from Australia, while the species from Norfolk Island are both most similar to species from New Zealand, and represents further evidence of the capacity of Crotonia spp. for long-distance dispersal to oceanic islands. Show more