Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia, 15() 1970
Autecological-zoogeographical Analysis of Moss Mites (Acari, Oribatei) on the Basis of Fauna in the Poznań environs. Part III
Abstract:
The paper contains a zoogeographical analysis of the ranges of 177 moss mite species from the Poznań region. The following groups of species have been distinguished: European, Palaearctic, temperate-Holarctic, Holarctic, subbipolar, Holarctic-subtropical, temperate-Holarctic-tropical and semi-cosmopolitan. The paper is concerned with the percentage share of particular range groups in the composition of the moss mite fauna of the Poznań region, the interrelations between the ecological and geographical elements, the effect of humidity of the macroclimate on the distribution of the species under study, the dependence of the size of ranges of particular species upon their humidity requirements, and some problems of the historical zoogeography. On the basis of palaeontological materials and, above all, the structure of the present-day ranges an attempt was made to determine the period in which a given range was formed and, consequently, to establish the minimum absolute age of the species. Palaeogene, Neogene, and Quaternary species were distinguished. The postglacial history of the formation of the moss mite fauna in the Poznań region was also analysed. The species were classified in groups according to the time of their arrival in the study area. Probable changes that took place in the fauna in the Older and Younger Dryas and in the Subboreal and Subatlantic periods were also discussed.
