Suctobelbella italica ( Mahunka, 1966 )

Schatz, Heinrich, Fortini, Lorenzo, Fusco, Tommaso, Casale, Francesca, Jacomini, Carlo & Giulio, Andrea Di, 2021, Oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatida) from “ Parco Naturale delle Alpi Marittime ” (Piedmont, Italy), Zootaxa 5082 (6), pp. 501-540 : 523

Suctobelbella italica ( Mahunka, 1966)

Suctobelba italica Mahunka 1966, p. 382 , figs 15-17.

Suctobelbella italica Subías 2004, p. 136 .

Parco Naturale delle Alpi Marittime: AB, FAG, PAL sparse.

General distribution: Northern Italy; Italian Alps; Central, South, Southwest Europe, southwestern Palaearctic; Mediterranean.

Habitat preferences: silvicolous.

Remarks: Body length 210–220 µm. The examined specimens correspond largely to the original description ( Mahunka 1966). The cilia on the notogastral setae, a charactistic morphological feature of the species, are difficult to recognize in some specimens, but on most setae visible as thin setulae. Subías (2004) synonymised S. diffissa Moritz, 1973 with S. italica based on similar bothridial seta, lateral rostral dentation and ciliate notogastral setae. But Suctobelbella italica has a nasiform rostral apex, broad apical lobes underneath, also the lateral anterior notogastral tooth is pointed, the inner tooth rounded (as in the specimens from the Alpi Marittime), whereas S. diffissa has distinct bifurcate apical lobes and almost equal anterior notogastral teeth ( Moritz 1973).