S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 32/2. (Budapest, 1979)
" absidatus - insignis" so that they are to be distinguished also generically if the generic differences, that is, the generic features delimiting the present Tarsonemid taxa, are accepted. In my opinion a reconsideration of the synonymizations and a renewed delimitation of the taxa involved is an inevitable necessity. The present paper has no claim to a complete revision (to be made in a more extensive publication now under work), because, among others, we still have to do with wholly open questions (e.g. the ' ' calcar atus" - type in the genus Pediculaster) and unproved relationships (the assumed phoretic life-history of the "phoretomorphic" forms - both in Resinacarus and in Pediculitopsis - on the basis of their occurring together and in the same habitat; the great number of described forms - Dotn in Pediculaster and in Siteroptes - may also allow the assumption that forthcoming proofs of their conspecificities will be merely a matter of time). The "category" value of the characteristics used for the separation of the taxa is also acutely problematic: leg chaetotaxy will, for instance, play a probably more decisive role in the future than in the past. Before discussing the taxa in question, I deem it necessary to contend that 1) no significance in itself can be attributed to the presence of polymorphism, either taxonomically or systematically; this phenomenon appears independently, as outlined in the introduction, in very many mite groups; 2) a high rate of morphological similarity occurring in a single developmental stage means - parallel with an equally high grade of differences concerning the other stages - merely an ontogenetical relationship of descent and does not automatically incur conspecificity in a genus. The present considerations involve the following taxa: Siteroptidae Mahunka, 1970 Siteroptinae Mahunka, 1970 Siteroptes Amerling, 1861 Siteroptes Amerling, 1861 Siteroptoides Cross, 1965 Tesiroptes Mahunka, 1969 Pygmephoridae Cross, 19 65 Pediculasterinae Mahunka, 1970 Pediculaster Vitzthum, 1931 Pediculitopsis Mahunka, 1969 Pygmephorellus Cross et Moser, 1971 As for the suprageneric taxa, the family Siteroptidae cannot, in its original composition, be distinguished from the family Pygmephoridae. The position, however, of the other two subfamilies (Meristoplaxinae Mahunka, 1970, and Trochometridinae Mahunka, 1970),relegated to the Siteroptidae, remains an open question. Especially in the case of the genus Trochometridium Cross, 1965, it seems almost certain that the species have a phoretic lifehistory: the eventual "normal" form may considerably help in their final relegation. On the basis of our present knowledge, the synonymization of the subfamilies Pediculasterinae Mahunka, 1970, and Pygmephorinae Cross, 1965, in the family Pygmephoridae, is also inevitable; similarly, there is no doubt that the subfamily Neopygmephorinae Cross, 1965, is more homogeneous, and that the entire earlier Siteroptidae and the subfamilies Pediculasterinae and Pygmephorinae jointly demand, as an extremely heterogeneous assembly, further considerations and investigations: their subgrouping, naturally subsequent to additional comparative studies, will surely be necessary. Among the genera, only Pediculaster Vitzthum, 1931, and Pygmephorellus Cross et Moser, 1971, have so far been synonymized unequivocally in literature. In my opinion, both incorrectly. This contention can be substantiated by the followings: . The difference between the phoretic forms is so great that this alone suffices for the retaining of the genera;** * Similarly exaggerated inferences have been drawn by SENICZAK (1975) in the Oribatid family Oppiidae. **On similar grounds, the majority of the Tarsonemid genera ought to be synonymized: most of them can be separated only in cognizance of the males!
