SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 22 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
A study by the Institute of Natural Products and Agrobiology (IPNA) which is part of the network of research centers of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) has confirmed the rediscovery of a species of ‘tenerífido’ that gave rise to the family of mites .
This species was located for the first time on a beach in La Orotava in 1911 and remained undetected for more than 100 years until researchers discovered specimens on the beaches of La Laguna (La Barranquera), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Taganana) and Fasnia. (Las Eras), specifically in the intertidal, a transition zone between the terrestrial and marine environment limited by the tides.
In addition, the study has highlighted the cryptic biodiversity that the intertidal in the Canary Islands harbors.
As a result of these samplings that have led to the rediscovery of this species of ‘Tenerífido’, it has been possible to describe an endemic species from the Canary Islands, ‘Thalassozetes canariensis Pfingstl, de la Paz & Hernández-Teixidor, 2020’, and detected for the first time in the Canary archipelago dozens of species.
‘Tenerifids’ are free-living predatory mites that prey on other small invertebrates and appear to have a global distribution, with species on virtually every continent and in a wide variety of habitats.
Thus they have been found from sea level to altitudes of about 5,000 meters, in terrestrial and marine ecosystems, including intertidal, arid deserts and caves.
All the species of this family in the world, some 27, include the name of the island of Tenerife in their name, such as those belonging to the genera ‘Austroteneriffia’, ‘Heteroteneriffia’, ‘Himalteneriffia’, ‘Mesoteneriffia’, ‘Mesoteneriffiola ‘, ‘Neoteneriffiola’, ‘Parateneriffia’, ‘Sinoteneriffia’ and ‘Teneriffia’.
The genus ‘Teneriffia’ currently has five known species: ‘T.quadripapillata’ from Tenerife; ‘T.mexicana’ from Mexico; ‘T. sebahatae’ from Turkey; ‘T. aethiopica’ from Ethiopia and ‘T.hajiqanbari’ from Iran.
