Platynothrus peltifer

van der Hammen, L., 1959, Berlese's Primitive Oribatid Mites, Zoologische Verhandelingen 40, pp. 1-93 : 71-72

Platynothrus peltifer (C. L. Koch, 1839)

Nothrus peltifer C. L. Koch , 183g, fasc. 2g (g).

Nothrus palliatus C. L. Koch , 183g, fasc. 30 (4).

Nothrus bistriatus , Berlese, 18855a, fasc. 17 (g); i88.qc, p. 12.

Angelia palliata , Berlese, 1896b, pp. 26, 30, 32.

Heminothrus bistriatus , Lombardini, 1936, p. 42.

Platynothrus palliatus , Lombardini, 1936, p. 47.

Platynothrus peltifer , Sellnick & Forsslund, 1955, p. 515, figs. 17, 18.

Berlese described the species in A.M.S. as " Nothrus bistratus Nic. non K." (" Nothrus bistriatus K. " on the plate!). He refers to the species that Nicolet (1855, p. 454, pl. 7 fig. 7) described as a juvenile of Nothrus palustris and which the last-mentioned author (I.e. p. 397) considered identical with Nothrus bistriatus C. L. Koch . (Nicolet's references to N. silvestris , N. palustris , and N. bistriatus are extremely confused). In fact the identity of Nothrus bistriatus C. L. Koch is uncertain; it resembles a Camisia .

Berlese (1896b) classified the species (as palliata C. L. Koch ) with the genus Angelia ; on p. 30 he mentions N. peltifer C. L. Koch as a synonym, and on p. 32 Hermannia bistriata Mich. Nothrus cirrosus Canestrini & Fanzago (1876, p. 100), mentioned by Berlese (1896b, p. 29) as a synonym of Angelia palliata , is of uncertain identity.

Platynothrus peltifer is the correct name of the present species; it is found in Europe, Greenland, and Canada. A detailed description was given by Sellnick & Forsslund, 1955, p. 515, figs. 17, 18.

According to Lombardini (1936) the specimens in the Berlese Collection are identified as Heminothrus bistriatus and Platynothrus palliatus . I have paid, however, no attention to the preparations of this common species.