ORIBATID MITE (ACARI: ORIBATIDA) SPECIES INVENTORY ON AN ALTITUDINAL GRADIENT IN THE PIATRA CRAIULUI MOUNTAINS (SOUTHERN CARPATHIANS, ROMANIA)

Oribatid mite species from Piatra Craiului Mountains (Southern Carpathians, Romania) were studied according to their altitudinal distribution. The mites were sampled from four sites (beech forest, fir and beech forest, nude scree and subalpine grassland) along an altitudinal gradient, from 1085 m to 1643 m. We identified a total of 60 species, 34 genera and 21 families of oribatid mites, from which four species were found at all altitudes. The species abundances varied with altitude. The faunal differences between the investigated areas were analysed using cluster analysis based on species presence/absence (Jaccard distance coefficient and simple linkage method). The analysis suggests significant differences in species associations between all sampled sites situated at four different altitudes