| abstract | The soil fauna living in a hollow camphor tree that was more than 800 years old at the Yatsushiro Shrine in the Kuma District, Kumamoto Prefecture, in southern Japan was investigated. Three new and six known oribatid species were collected. Of these nine species, the three new species are Medioxyoppia trionus n. sp., Peloribates (Peloribates) yatsushiroensis n. sp. and Ceratozetes erupentus n. sp.; five species were previously known: Acrotritia aokii (Niedbala, 2000), Acrotritia ardua (C. L. Koch, 1841), Tectocepheus cuspidentatus Knulle, 1954, Campachipteria distincta distincta (Aoki, 1959), and Oribatula (Oribatula) sakamorii Aoki, 1970; and one additional and potentially new species was described as belonging to the genus Epilohmannia. Although this Epilohmannia sp. may prove to be a new species in the future, this paper did not designate it as a new species, because only a single specimen was found in the present survey. |