Notulae Oribatologicae LIV. Cosmogneta cassolai (Acarida, Oribatida), a new species from western Mediterranean countries

Cosmogneta is a small genus of very localized and morphologically peculiar species belonging to the Autognetidae family. To our knowledge, it comprises two species, C. impedita Grandjean, 1960 f, 1975)rom the French Department of Eastenr Pyrenees (Grandjean, 1960) and C. kargi Grandjean, 1963 from Central Germany and Mediterranean France (Grandjean, 1963 Lions, 1975). These taxa are characterized among the Autognetidae by the peculiar morphology of the prodorsal anterior portion, the spoon-shaped le setae and the sensillus, and by the sexual differentiation of the a' seta on leg I (Grandjean, 1963). Cosmogneta has not hitherto been known in Italy. The collection of a new species of this genus is therefore of both systematic and faunistic interest. The finding of this entity in Corsica and Elba islands (Tuscan Archipelago) also gives rise to some biogeographical considerations.