The Acari of fresh- and brackish water habitats in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions

Neither the benthic Halacaroidea nor nektonic Hydrachnidia, characteristic of temperate and tropical freshwater mite faunas are represented among the twenty four species and sub-species of Acari recorded from the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic. The mites collected from the streams, lakes or brackish/freshwater pools of the region are either terrestrial species blown by wind into freshwater or interlopers from the marine littoral which have invaded coastal brackish pools. The present study reports on new collections of mites obtained from lakes and pools at a number of locations from both Continental and Maritime Antarctica, as well as from several sub-Antarctic islands. It reviews all published records for the region and the combined ‘fauna’ is then compared with that of temperate and tropical regions.