A new species of marine mite, Mictognathus colemani n. sp. (Acari: Halacaridae) from the Great Barrier Reef

A new species of marine mite, Mictognathus colemani n. sp., was described from the Great Barrier Reef. The male specimen was extracted from a sample of coral sand collected from the reef flat at Turner Cay on 8 December 1998. It is the third known species in its genus and the first species of Mictognathus known to occur in tropical waters. The key to the genus Mictognathus also includes Mictognathus secundus and Mictognathus werthelloides.
This research was conducted as part of a survey of marine mites from northern Australia.
The holotype specimen has been deposited at the Townsville branch of the Queensland Museum (Accession Number: QMS105562).

研究人员在大堡礁正式记述一种新的海洋螨类——科尔曼混颌螨（Mictognathus colemani n. sp.）。该雄性标本于1998年12月8日，从特纳凯伊礁坪采集的珊瑚沙样本中分离获得。该物种为混颌螨属（Mictognathus）的第三个已知有效物种，亦是该属首个被记录分布于热带水域的物种。混颌螨属的分类检索表同时涵盖次级混颌螨（Mictognathus secundus）与沃氏混颌螨（Mictognathus werthelloides）。

本研究系澳大利亚北部海域海洋螨类系统性调查项目的组成部分。

该新种的正模标本已保存于昆士兰博物馆汤斯维尔分馆，登录号（Accession Number）为QMS105562。