Oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) from Bethuadahari Wildlife Sanctuary of West Bengal, India

An annotated checklist of oribatid mite taxa from Bethuadahari Wildlife Sanctuary of West Bengal, India, is presented on the basis of a faunistic survey carried out inside the sanctuary from January, 2011 to December, 2012. A total of 44 oribatid species, belonging to 37 genera in 24 families, have been identified. The present study has also documented nine species as the new records from India. The most frequent species of this sanctuary are Protoribates (P.) magnus (Aoki, 1982), Lamellobates (L.) molecula (Berlese, 1916), Perscheloribates (P.) albialatus (Hammer, 1961), Lamellobates (Paralamellobates) bengalensis Bhaduri Raychaudhuri, 1968, Tectocepheus velatus sarekensis Trägårdh, 1910, Multioppia radiata Hammer, 1961, and Hoplophorella cuculata (Ewing, 1909). Additionally, the most species rich families of the study area are Oppiidae Sellnick, 1937 and Scheloribatidae Grandjean, 1933.