| abstract | The last partial revision of the Oppiidae by BALOGH (1983) initiated the definition of 51 new genera and 25 new subfamilies. Concerning the genera mentioned by BALOGH (1972) the total number of genera within the Oppiidae increases to more than 100 by the moment. As the relationships among those genera are totally unknown they cannot be used for comparative investigations within the fields of biology, ecology and zoogeography. Therefore a revision of the Oppiidae is still strongly needed. The present paper is a contribution to this subject, giving definitions to the Oppiidae and in a farther sense to the Oppioidea within the „Oribates supérieurs" sensu Grandjean. For differenciations characters are used according to their value and only in combination with additional characters as „Merkmalsbündel“ (bunches of combined characters) (WOAS, 1981, WOAS & BECK in prep.).
Using the total number of 560 characters and showing 2780 different structural conditions, an initial group of 50 selected species of the „Oribates supérieurs" is splitted successively. This leads to smaller homogenous relation-groups which, one after the other, are separated from the larger stock of groups with lesser homogenity. Thus the Oppiidae, step by step, become marked off their taxonomical surroundings.
The superfamily Oppioidea and the family Oppiidae as well are defined new. The number of subfamilies within the Oppiidae is reduced to 2, Suctobelbinae and Oppiinae, and the number of genera is reduced to 4, Suctobelba, Arcoppia, Oppia and Oppiella. In addition are 30 species revised and 15 species described as new: Of the genera Autogneta, Conchogneta, Ctenobelba, Suctobelbila and Teratoppia one species each, respectively 2 species of the genus Rhynchoribates, 4 species of the genus Quadroppia, 16 species of the genus Suctobelba, 3 species of the genus Arcoppia, 6 species of the genus Oppia and 9 species of the genus Oppiella.
The definition and the genealogical position of the other genera is discussed. In accordance to the mostly insufficient descriptions, those genera are rejoined to the genera already revised in this paper as far as possible. Beside the characters used for the definition of adult individuals, additional ontogenetic characters as given by GRANDJEAN (1953) and SENICZAK (1975) are used for the revision of the Oppioidea. |