Diversity of Peloppiidae (Oribatida) in North America

Members of the oribatid mite family Peloppiidae are found throughout the Holarctic in subarctic and arctic habitats, and temperate and boreal forests, and while common, are rarely collected in high abundance. Pacific Northwest forest habitats of western Canada have high relative diversity of peloppiid mites representing species of the genera Ceratoppia. Dendrozetes, and Metrioppia. Many of these are newly described species that are seemingly endemic to the region. Here I review the status and diversity of Peloppiidae from North America, and summarize the distributions of described species. Despite recent efforts, significant work remains. Within Ceratoppia two widely-distributed and established species have considerable morphological variation, while the type specimens are missing or destroyed, making confirmation of new specimens difficult. For other genera, extensive review of the Canadian National Collections in Ottawa, Canada suggest there are at least four undescribed species of North American Peloppiidae - two potentially new species of Paenoppia, and new species each of Parapyroppia and Pyroppia.